Walking on Eggshells to Avoid Conflict? Why It Actually Creates More Drama
What if, by trying to avoid rocking the boat, you actually make it sink. If youāre like most nice guys and people pleasers, youāve probably been walking on eggshells in your relationship to avoid upsetting your partner and to prevent conflict. You choose your words carefully. You avoid certain topics. You anticipate and prevent problems from happening. You pretend to agree with things. You follow rather than lead. You are generally just trying to keep the peace all the time, and you probably pat yourself on the back for doing it. But Iāll bet youāve noticed something thatās pretty frustrating: Not only is this not working, the conflicts are getting worse as time passes. So either the drama keeps happening anywayāitās just a different type of dramaāor other problems are starting to emerge. Even if it looks like the two of you are reasonably conflict-free and things look okay on the surface, things like intimacy, respect, and knowing who you are are starting to deteriorate, or have gotten really bad over time. You start to feel resentful, highly anxious, feel like youāre kind of being eroded away, and you get a sense of dread that things are never going to get betterāthat youāre trapped in a prison and thereās really no way out. Thereās this kind of paradox, or this trap, where you feel like youāre doing everything right and being a good person, and yet thereās constant tension. It feels like the problem never gets solved. In todayās podcast episode, weāre going to break down why walking on eggshells not only doesnāt work, itās actually one of the main causes of conflict and tension in a relationship. Weāre going to break down what it means to walk on eggshells, what it looks like, why it happens, how you became a person who does this, why it doesnāt work, why it backfires on you, and a healthier, more respectful, and confident way to deal with these issues that will actually reduce the overall conflict over time. The best thing is, you can reduce all this conflict without actually causing a lot of chaos. Itās not going to be as bad as you think itās going to be, but youāre just going to have to trust me on this one.