An encounter with a mean person can ruin your day. It can also leave you frustrated, doubting your sanity, and sometimes even affect your self-esteem. Mean people often catch you off guard with their nastiness because it is the last thing you expect since the norm is for all humans to respect the space of the others.
Nasty people do not have to ruin your day or your life in case you share some space with them. You can learn how to live with them and protect yourself from their bad attitude and venom. Below I am going to show you several things you can do to become immune to their harsh words and behavior and live your life peacefully.
Refrain from taking it personally
Do not take the actions of the mean person as directed too only you. Understand that it’s their nature and they treat everyone that way. Therefore it’s not that they singled you to treat you nastily and treat other people well. When you look at their behavior this way, you will be less bothered by their unbecoming conduct. Believe the best about the mean person. That they are not mean on purpose but because of some things going on in their life.
Demonstrate positive behavior
To help the mean person change from their sour attitude, try behaving the way you would want them to behave. The person may be using meanness to show that they dominate you. You should in such a case act in a way to show them they are the ones in charge. Do not give them your power but give them responsibility so that they feel in control.
Cut them some slack
If the person, let’s say it’s a co-worker, is not mean to you every day, then don’t take their attitude to mean they don’t like you but understand they may just be having a bad day. Probably someone rubbed them off the wrong way and they are irritated or they are only in a mood swing for reasons they also cannot control.
Talk to them
You never know what the mean person could be going through. They could be having bottled up feelings that they have no one to share with. Find out the reason for the nasty behavior so that you understand the root cause. Therefore you must think about the questions to ask them to have them open up. They will be excited to give answers most likely to questions about their personal life. This will allow you to get to the bottom of the matter and offer them lasting help.
Walk away
Leave the nasty person alone and go on your way to get away from the situation. This will take power away from the mean person, and they will not escalate the situation.
Try helping them
Find out if the person is depressed or frustrated with life and help them or help them seek professional help. This help might help you the mean person change their attitude and their life and turn around to be better people in society.
Be kind to the person
Treat the nasty person with kindness as it may be the thing lacking in their life. Life might have become complicated at some point and left this mean person with bitterness that he is trying to project on to other people. You can counter the pain with compassion so that the person can know that somebody acres.