When you look around, you’ll find that there are difficult people everywhere. 

It is almost inevitable that you will come across someone in your life that is challenging in some way and you will have to find a way to deal with them. You may be tempted to think “what’s the point?”. However sometimes, dealing with a difficult person is unavoidable – especially if they are members of your family. Family members can often be even harder to get along with because we are connected with them in a close and unique way.

When it comes to family, there is extra pressure to make things work out, because family members are for life and you can’t simply to walk away and leave them behind. If you don’t get along with a family member, it may put strain on the entire family dynamics. That is why we have created this guide with some tips on how to get along with family members who are difficult. This guide includes a number of tips that should help to ease the tension in your relationship with those difficult family members and may even help you come up with a solution to the problem you have with them. 

A Bit About Getting Along With Family

Your family are usually the most important people in your life, so it is important that you get along with them. Tensions within a family are never fun and often lead to even more problems down the line. With that in mind, these tips should help you overcome any difficulties you’re currently experiencing with your family members. 

Why is it sometimes difficult to get along with family?

Family members, just like anyone else, are entitled to their own opinions and often these may differ to your personal opinions. When people disagree with you, this can often lead to high tensions and arguments and unfortunately, that sometimes happens between family members. Another reason why family members can sometimes be difficult to get along with is simply because you don’t like them. Perhaps you don’t agree with their values, or you frown upon their actions or certain personality traits. We will all come across people we don’t like in our lives for various reasons, and sometimes that can be a member of your own family. 

Why is important to get along with family?

It is important to get along with your family members because families tend to see each other often. Positive family dynamics are important because a blip in the family dynamics can result in a lot of tension between all of the family members. Your family members tend to be the people who are closest to you and who you can rely on the most, so it’s important to keep the bond between family members strong. If you find yourself dealing with a difficult family member, it is important to find a way to resolve your differences as soon as possible to avoid any tension within the family. 

How does getting along with family help you?

Getting along with your family members will help you stay happy because strong family relationships are important. When we get along with people, it makes us a happier person overall. When we get along with our family, we can form strong bonds with all of our family members which is great. This is because your family members are often the people you turn to when you’re at your lowest and they will be there for you to comfort you and make everything seem better. That is why it is important to try to get along with all of your family member. 

How to Get Along With Family Members

Below you will find our list of tips on how to get along with family member who are difficult. These tips should help you with easing the tension and stress of dealing with a difficulty family member. We hope that these tips on how to get along with family members are useful to you and can help you in some way. We would love to hear your thoughts on these tips in the comments section below this article. 

Tip 1 – Don’t try to fix the difficult person.

It is important to learn to accept that person for who they are. You can never expect someone to change who they re for you, just as you should never feel like you have to change for someone else. If someone is a difficult person then that is just who they are and you have to learn to accept that. 

If someone is particularly difficult, it may be worth having a conversation with them about their behaviour. However, this can often lead to tensions rising and the person becoming even more difficult than before. Often it is better just to leave them as they are and try to figure a way to avoid confrontation with them. Keeping your feelings about this difficult person to yourself and learning how to deal with it in your own way can usually lead to the best outcome. 

Tip 2 – Be present and direct with them.

When you know someone is being difficult on purpose, this can often cause you to become more and more irate with them and set your emotions off in all directions. It is important to keep your cool in these situations, because when you’re in an irate state, this can lead to high blood pressure and increased heart rate which can potentially be dangerous for you. 

The best way to move forward is to keep your cool and stay true to yourself. Don’t allow yourself to become wound up by the difficult person as that’t the response they want. People who are difficult on purpose tend to seek a response, so if you give that person nothing back, they will often get bored and give up eventually. Never allow yourself to get into an argument or fight with this person, because nothing good will come of it. Instead, just stay calm and collected and remove yourself from the conversation and even the room if necessary. 

Tip 3 – Encourage the difficult person to express themselves.

If the difficult person is expressing their opinion on something, then let them do so until they have finished – even if this is something that you don’t agree with. Try to remain as neutral as possible and just show them that you are listening to what they have to say. Choosing to disagree with them at this point is only going to make them irate and cause conflict. Therefore, it is instead best to keep quiet and allow them to have their rant so they can get all of their feelings out in the open and get everything off their chest. 

If you show this person that you are listening to them and that your respect them for having their own opinion, then this may be enough to keep them at may. Respect goes a long way and will mean a lot to this person. This is especially true if you have had moments of conflict in the past. 

Tip 4 – Watch for trigger topics.

It is inevitable that there will be certain topics that will trigger a person and will fire up debates and conflicts. It is important to look out for those trigger topics and take a mental note of them. This way, if those topics do come up in the future, you can be very aware and very cautious moving forward. 

It is important to be prepared for these topics. If these topics do come up, it’s up to you to decide the best course of action. Do you take the topics on head on and attempt to rationally discuss them with he person in question, or , do you completely deflect away from the topic and move on to something else? Past experiences may help you out in choosing the right course of action in any situation such as this. 

Tip 5 – Know that some topics are absolutely off-limits.

This is an important one to remember when dealing with difficult people. some topics should be completely avoided when it comes to this particular person. Past experiences should act as a reminder of which topics are completely off limits for discussion with this person. 

If there is a topic in which you have previously had an argument over, or if there is a particular subject that has left you feeling stressed and anxious, then it is probably best to just completely avoid that subject altogether. Any discussion that you know is going to fire up a heated debate should be avoided at all costs. Try to leave these topics out completely until both you and the other person are able to move forward with it and discuss it in a calm and constructive way. 

6. Remember that it’s not always about you

It can be a difficult and frustrating experience when you’re feeling personally victimised or you’re being made to feel like the blame is all yours. However, it is important to remember that it’s usually not your fault, and that you can move on from this conflict in a positive way if you allow it to move forward in such a way. 

Try to imagine a conflict unfolding. Usually it begins with a discussion on a particular subject which becomes more and more heated as it unfolds until eventually it explodes beyond control you find that you’re firing out words in a gigantic argument that could have easily been prevented. Keep those initial signs in your mind and try to look out for them. If you see a discussion getting heated, try to deter the discussion and talk about something else. Or, simply just remove yourself from the area of discussion. Walking away can often be the best course of action in this situation. 

Tip 7 – Your own well-being comes first.

Although it’s always great to show your respect for others and to attend to their needs to please them, you don’t want to find yourself bending over backwards for someone else to the point where it’s harmful or uncomfortable for you. It isn’t your responsibility to keep the peace within a family. This should come equally between all of the members of the family, because you’re all in the same boat. Never allow a relationship with a family member affect your own well-being. 

If you know that there is a special occasion coming up where all of the family are gathering together, it’s a smart idea to plan ahead – especially if you know for sure that that difficult person is going to be there. You don’t want to find yourself getting into a situation where you’re alone with that difficult person. It’s important to plan for this to ensure that nothing happens that might cause a conflict between you and this person. Surround yourself with the family members that you get along with and you’ll find that you have a great time and might not even notice that that difficult person is there. 

Were these tips on how to get along with family members who are difficult useful to you?

Did these tips have a positive effect on your experience with a difficult family member? Did you enjoy this list of quotes? Perhaps you have some tips of your own about how to deal with family member who are difficult that you think should be on this list? Or maybe you have some stories about dealing with difficult family members that you would like to share with us? We would love to hear them! Please leave a comment in the comment section below this article. 

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