....But It's Never Over.

I hate conflicts. I know there are some people out there who get a kick out of arguing their viewpoints with others, but that's not me. Even really minor disagreements tend to upset me more than they should. I can deal with friendly debates, but that's really about it. Given the choice, I'd rather avoid the whole thing altogether.

But just because I don't like arguing doesn't mean I don't end up doing it on occasion. There are times when I'd really rather just let something slide, but there are times when someone pushes me a bit too far and I pretty much have to take some kind of a stand. I think I'm pretty good at articulating my views, I just don't have that much confidence in the very often. I like to believe that my ability to see another person's side of things is a positive trait, but it makes me pretty lousy in arguments.

Even when I do have some confidence in what I'm standing up for, I still hate arguing about it. No matter how much both parties try ( or claim to try) to keep things objective, there's always emotion in an argument. There probably wouldn't be an argument were that not the case. And the more emotion you get tied in, the less likely it is that there's ever going to be a solution. Both sides get emotionally attached to their positions, they start hearing what they want to believe the other person is saying, and nothing gets resolved.

Now I'm probably as guilty of this as anyone. Andrew has told me that I can be really nasty in a fight and he probably gets the worst of it since he lives with me. But I try. I try to listen, to stay relatively objective, to address the points the other person makes. But unfortunately, that's seldom a guarantee that the other person will extend the same courtesy to me.

As usual, no specifics, at least on the blog. It was kind of a rough day or two but we'll live. And I imagine I will be totally off this subject tomorrow. So stay tuned.