I recently had a situation where someone was having a bad day and decided to spew some anger my way.

Let’s be clear, I had nothing to do with making this person angry, I just happened to be the lucky target standing nearby when she decided to let ‘er rip.

Now, there are two older versions of Me who would have dealt with the situation very differently. The 20something Me would have not responded at all. Yep. She would have absorbed the anger even though she didn’t deserve it, and then try to figure out how to rid herself of it’s toxins later. The 30something Me would have come back with a tongue so sharp that the woman would have been cut to shreds within seconds.

But the 40something Me now weighs everything to find balance. My assessment of the situation was that I was getting someone else’s residual crap, and I needed to let the woman doing the dishing know that wasn’t acceptable.

That was it. No absorbing someone else’s negativity, and on the flip side, no reducing someone to a pile of ash because they pissed me off.

My approach was a simple one “So-and-so, I need to speak with you in private about what just happened.” Before I could get another word out, she was apologizing profusely. What she learned is that while there may be people who will allow her to sound off on them unjustly, Djuanna will not.

Standing up for yourself is not a risk, it’s a must.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Djuanna Brockington spends most of her time writing, reading books and blogs about writing, or thinking about writing because she is doing other things. Her family and friends seem to tolerate this behavior, in hopes that one day she’ll learn to be a bit more balanced. In the meantime, Djuanna continues to spend her days pounding out words on her beloved Macbook. Visit Djuanna's website.
Email this author | All posts by Djuanna Brockington