Deep Cleansing Breaths and Advice

 

Is there someone in your life who consistently gets under your skin?  A person who annoys you like a mosquito that won't go away?  Someone whose very presence just makes your blood pressure go up a notch or two?  

I'm sure we all have a person or people like that in our lives.  Here is the question:  how do you handle it?

I'm looking for a calmer, more peaceful 2021.  Aren't we all?  But there is one person who I deal with on a regular (not daily, but close) basis that gets under my skin.  It's a person I cannot avoid or dismiss.  (Because if I could; believe me I would. Who would want to interact with a person that drives them crazy if they could avoid it?  I may act crazy, but I'm NOT crazy [yet]. I would avoid big time!)

I need to work with this person.  I cannot scream or yell or even stamp my feet. (Although I sure the heck want to.  And I'll admit it; I've done so in the past in the privacy of my own space...it hasn't helped me much.)  Complaining is getting me nowhere.  Bitching is getting me nowhere.  I need to figure out a solution.

I don't have one.

What I do realize that I cannot change this person.  We cannot change people.  (This is so hard to admit and act on because we WANT to change people.  I think it's part of our nature.)  What am mature enough to know is that although I cannot change this person, I CAN change the way I react and interact.

The question is how do I do that?  Before I open that email do I take a deep cleansing breath?  First I have to remind myself to slow down and do that.  But what do I do after that?  Should I keep breathing while I read through what I know will be something that will annoy me?  Should I hold off on reading these emails?  Should I temporarily ignore them and then set aside a specific time of day to deal with them? (The same could go for phone calls and messages.)

What would you do?

Seriously, I am open to any and all recommendations.  

Last year was one with way too much stress for us all.  I think we all need to do what we can to cut down on it this year.  I KNOW I do.  So have at it with the advice...

And it doesn't just have to be about this specific issue.  (Although that surely would help me out!)  Any advice that anyone has about how to calmly handle people, things and situations that are stressful would be appreciated.  

Again I say, have it!

Thanks!  Here's to a calm(er) 2021.