Conflict-Avoidant may manifest in the unwillingness to involve oneself in conflicts and such conflict-driven situations or situations of interpersonal strife, or even an actual fear of such conditions.
Suppose you have any of these traits or are friends with a conflict-avoidant person. In that case, you’d probably be somewhat familiar with the following list of problems that conflict-avoidant people usually face.
1. Conflict-Avoidant people can’t say ‘NO.’
One of the biggest problems of being conflict-avoidant is that you become inherently incapable of directly refusing anyone. Whereas your inner self silently screams at you for agreeing to do something so monumentally stupid! It could be the most outrageous of requests, and you would suddenly find yourself nodding benignly with a smile on your lips.
But anything is better than seeing the disappointment and recrimination in someone’s eyes when they hear the word ‘no.’
By Roman Samborskyi/ Shutterstock
2. Inability to get rid of Annoying People
This, too, can be a significant drawback. Your conflict-avoidant nature may often compel you to tolerate the company of pretty intolerable people just because you’re too polite to tell them to fuck off, which is what any average person would have done a long time ago. But you smile and listen and pretend to understand their incomprehensible whining while silently praying for the earth to swallow you up and release you from your misery.
3. Inability to pick sides
A tendency towards conflict avoidance may often render you incapable of picking sides in a conflict. This can often be mistaken as a sign of disloyalty. In reality, though, it’s anything but. Social disharmony upsets such people, and their natural response is to restore harmony by making all sides see reason and make-up. However, this may be easier said than done! In the meantime, you may find yourself with one foot on each side of the fence.
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4. Inability to hang up on people
So some people like chattering on the phone. That might not be a problem under normal circumstances. It’s often quite refreshing to have a long and involved conversation with a close friend. However, this might turn into a pain when you’re getting late for class or an important meeting or losing precious talk-time balance because the guy on the other end refuses to end the conversation despite numerous polite hints.
Some people don’t get subtlety, and at that moment, you only need a firm ‘goodbye’ and a subsequent pressing of the ‘disconnect’ button. However, a conflict-avoidant personality often renders you incapable of taking such firm action, leaving you stranded with an insistent caller as the minutes’ tick by.
5. Inability to fight for seats on Public Transport
People who regularly travel by public transport learn that you must fight vehemently and persistently for the right to rest your ass on a seat after a long day’s work. Suppose you can’t fight for your seat. In that case, someone else will surely take it from you, leaving you to spend the rest of the journey hanging precariously from one of the slippery hand-holders overhead, bumping against annoyed fellow passengers at every jerky turn.
Being compulsively conflict-avoidant often leaves you in this unfortunate position, rendering you incapable of entering into any cat-fights for rightfully your seat.
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6. Inability to Bargain with Hawkers
One of the most significant shopping challenges (and pleasures) in Indian markets is the compulsory haggling and bargaining that goes hand-in-hand with the shopping experience.
It doesn’t even matter if you even needed those particular earrings. It’s the principle of the thing, you know! Your shopping list isn’t complete until you can persuade the seller to give you that pair of cute earrings for ten bucks less than he had initially been demanded.
One of the most significant drawbacks of being conflict-avoidant is that you cannot experience and enjoy the singular happiness of getting cheap goodies at even more affordable rates after a satisfying bout of haggling.
7. Being a Workaholic
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One of the only good things about this ordeal is that having a conflict-avoidant personality may push you to become a conscientious worker. You would rather avoid that unpleasantness with your teacher or boss that comes along with shoddily presented work or late submissions.
Just the thought of having to face down an angry co-worker might spur you into action and drive you to complete your work on time, thus making you an asset to whatever institution you are a part of.
So, are you conflict-avoidant? Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t awesome just like you are! And if they do, take a deep breath, smile a sweet smile, and ask them politely to buzz off!
Last Updated on by Himani Rawat
