sweet and sour

I don't usually use this blog as a forum for venting. Because I tend to try and take things with a grain of salt, I rarely make sweeping generalisations, if I can help it. But lately I have been really struggling, and I feel like I need an opportunity to say a few things.

Lately I feel like I am dealing with far more sour than sweet. It seems that I have a number of people in my life lately who are unbelievably negative. So much so that I struggle to even be around them. I not only don't understand why they are this way - I don't understand what the point is. What is the overall goal of being such a whinging, bitter, sourpuss? Does that attitude get you somewhere? Does it have any positive results? I hardly think so.

I am running out of coping mechanisms. I feel like the bad guys are winning. They are making me angry, and frustrated. Their complaining and nitpicking is really getting me down. I have polled my friends - how do you deal with negative people? Most of the responses indicate that I should ignore them. Put in my earphones. Walk away. But what do you do when you cannot escape them? When they are people you see often, have to work with, or are related to? What then?

I don't usually shy away from conflict. I know how to stand up for what I think is right. But I stink at sticking up for myself. I'll sooner sneak a cry in the ladies room than fight back at the bully in the office. And yet - is that really the right thing to do? Doesn't the bully win that way? But what are the options? Stoop to their level? Return their comments in kind? That thought doesn't make me feel any better.

So - I am at am impasse. I can't keep feeling like this. And yeah, I know - no one can make you feel inferior without your consent - and all that jazz. But the truth is, it's not as easy as that. I am exhausted and I don't know what to do next. Mean people suck, and that is just the plain truth.