Does keeping the peace actually work?
I saw this photo the other day on Facebook, and the message hit me like a brick. If you avoid conflict to keep the peace, then you start a war inside yourself. YES. Oh my god, that is so true for me. I wanted to see if others resonated with this particular message as much as I do, so I reposted it. A few people commented (but not as many as I would have expected, given how provoking it was for me). Someone responded, "And you often CREATE conflict in your other relationships where there wasn't any." Bam, so friggin' true. So let's unpack this a little bit. We'll start with the level of FAMILY . When you grew up, what did you learn about conflict? Was it okay? How did people disagree? What happened when YOU had a different opinion from everyone else or something to say that wasn't "pleasant?" What are your expectations and norms for how people SHOULD treat conflict? What did you learn about your own needs and how much they mattered in ...