In the couple of weeks I have been in unfortunate situations three times with people. They left me angry, frustrated and hurt.
But as things got going i had to remember that getting angrier only leads to a worse situation. So both times I backed off by saying “I’m going to leave it at that before I say something I regret”.
That was bloody hard to do because there was plenty more to say and all of the situations could have easily become quite nasty.
And as we often do, we regret the things we say in the heat of the moment. And that can often lead to big rifts between friends and family members.
So I have learnt to recognise when things are heading that way, and learnt to walk away from the situation. It doesn’t make it any better but it does stop it getting worse. And later when I and (hopefully) them have cooled off a bit, things can be sorted much easier, and with much less hurt for everyone. Obviously there are plenty of situations (and I’ve still got one on the back burner) where the conversation won’t be sorted any time soon or even at all but it’s still better to hold your tongue than have regrets over what hounsaybuoull
So next time you find a conversation getting heated, walk away. Say “you’re not saying anything more now or you’ll say something you regret” the other person might be temporarily more upset but in the long run it’s better to wait and think about how to handle a conversation than to make it worse.
