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Dealing with Passive Aggressive Behaviour

When we'll do anything just to keep other people happy, they can control us. We may bend to their every will just to avoid a confrontation. In the process of molding ourselves to become the people we think others want, we can lose ourselves.

Conflict avoidance is classic people-pleasing behavior. If people-pleasing doesn't sound that bad to you (why would you not want to make other people happy?), we're talking about the extreme here: where a fear of provoking displeasure or negative emotions in others keeps you from expressing yourself or trying to fix issues. Conflict avoidance often comes from a deep fear of pissing anybody off or making them "dislike" you in any way; in the conflict-avoidant person's mind, enduring a bad situation is better than fighting about it and possibly incurring somebody's displeasure.

But conflict-avoidant people tend to have learned, early in their lives, that conflict is a frightening, negative experience to be avoided at all costs, rather than something that can actually resolve problems. 

Last night while we lay on the bed speaking about investments and stocks, I confronted Rohan and asked him what was bothering him? He immediately reacted with a very assertive and anger pushed behaviour. Bottled up feelings lead to this behaviour, as I try to understand more about this, I realize it's not worth my time. 

Let people who don't want to connect with you be, everyone has a time in your life, and you cannot force things. 


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