Continuing on with the day's theme of managing our mouths, Marjorie talked a bit about her experience with handling difficult conversations.
Her best advice was to walk away. Even in her family of 6 adult children, she reports that there are few arguments. However, there are some individuals in her family who like to debate and have interactive argumentative conversations. Marjorie said that what these situations come up, she is uncomfortable with them because she is not the type of person who likes to debate. She understands that others are not like that and at first, she felt this was a sign of contention in the family. However, she described how she has learned to understand that this is the nature of these personalities and that they enjoy this type of interaction. So, when the conversation gets too heated, she just walks out of the room.
Not a bad idea, Marjorie. If you are uncomfortable with the topic, and it doesn't focus on something you are involved in or a topic you are responsible to, let yourself out of the conversation. Give yourself permission.
This raises a good example, however, of how to let others be who they are. Marjorie could have chosen to let herself get angry and perhaps retaliate in some way. Or, had she confronted the individuals on their behavior as if it were "wrong", they may not have understood her intentions. It's so easy to take certain people off our friendship list because they have a different personality style than ours.
It's OK to be different. It's not OK to let that difference cause a sinful response in yourself.
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