How to Deal With People Who Drive You Nuts

Ignoring them may not work all the time.

Navigating relationships is not always so easy. There are people you meet, and immediately you just click.

Everything they do will either inspire you or make you question your bad sides.

Then there are people who tick you off. They are annoying, frustrating, and exhausting. No matter how you try to ignore them, they still drive you crazy.

They always create more problems than they solve. They complain, critique and judge. They are almost impossible to please.

Coping with annoying people has never been my specialty. I have dealt with enough toxicity in my life to know when it’s best to cut ties.

But we all have crazy people in our lives who can’t be avoided, whether it be a parent or parent-in-law, a sibling or a sibling’s spouse, a friend of a friend, or a co-worker whom you just can’t stand.

Having a friend or relative that you don’t get along with isn’t necessarily the end of the world.

While you might have to reunite with them during family events, you shouldn’t feel obligated to keep up a fake relationship that drains your energy and tears off your skin.

You might feel guilty about letting the relationship fall apart, but if you at least treat it with respect and don’t tear each other apart- badmouthing or shaming each other behind your backs, you can be surprised how peaceful and comforting it can be to have annoying people around.

How do you cope with crazy people in your life?

To detoxify your life, you must be able to understand and recognize a person with annoying traits.

They look like everyone else, talk like everyone else, and may even lurk in your group of friends, family, or romantic relationship.

And after every interaction with them, you inevitably start talking to yourself to rationalize why you shouldn’t strangle them.

While you can’t cut ties with every single person who doesn’t agree with you, there are ways to cope and deal with them, so you get a benefit out of the relationship, especially if they are a part of your success team.

Does our tendency to find some people around us very irritating make us bad people? No, it makes us very human.

But the real question is, what can we do to foster a healthy relationship with them?

Make up an excuse and leave the scene

I’ve a bad temper. Irrelevant things easily trigger me. When I’m in conversation with annoying people, the best way to control my temper is to walk away from them as soon as I’m triggered.

I don’t have to argue my opinion and make things worst. Simply recognizing that the energy in the room has become toxic is all the sign I need to know the person has gone off switch.

Don’t try to please them. Annoying people will find a way to make you feel guilty when you are not responding to their conversation.

Walk away and come back when the mood has changed. You are not responsible for someone else’s feelings. If you unknowingly did something to hurt someone, ask them, talk about it, and apologize if necessary.

Take your mind to your safe place

Do you have a favorite song or movie? Now will be the time to play a music or movie to distract your mind from crazy people.

Distraction is a surprisingly effective technique for changing your mood when someone is bothering you. If you like singing, reading, or playing instruments, then get on it.

You can recite a passage from a book or lyrics you know by heart quietly to yourself or in your head.

As you say the words out loud, focus on the shape of each word on your lips and in your mouth. When you say the words in your head, you visualize each word as you would see it on a page.

Don’t take whatever they say personal

You might find yourself justifying and defending your opinion, but doing so will often go around in circles because annoying people will never own their feelings.

If you feel like you’re defending yourself too often against wrongful accusations or questions, you might be you’re projecting on it.

They want you to own their feelings as if they were yours, which is called projection. Ignore their accusation and move on to something else.

While you can’t control the behavior of others, you can control yours.

Recognize your emotions. Accept the fact that what they say or do isn’t about you.

You don’t have to explain, justify, defend, or deal with insinuations from annoying people.

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