In the journey of growing up, interpersonal conflict usually revolved around people that we
communicate with, be it family members, friends or colleagues. Conflict is
inevitable in our courses of life and each of these conflicts redefines our
relationships with these people and our own personality.
The way we approach the conflict
determines our future relationships with these people. If we do not handle it well, hostility and resentment towards each other arise. If we handled it
well, we gain greater trust and deepen our relationships
I have a conflict with a friend over
a long period of time and there were different stages on how I tackled it.
I have a childhood friend who I am very close
to during my primary school days up till now. I know her personalities very
well and we do share our woes and foes together. However, one problem of her is
being too dominating. She wanted everyone to go along with her. During
secondary school days, my friends and I accommodated her and did not bring the
issue up. I choose to remain silent as I was scared that if I discussed the
issue with her openly, given her ego, our relationships would deteriorate
further. She was my best friend and I wanted it to remain as how it should be.
As I grew up, I know ignoring the
problem could not solve the problem. I started to face the issue and try
dropping hints to her. She ignored it and continued to do it in her way.
Over the years, I started to accept her
personality and assume nothing had happened before. We are still friends till
today however the problem still remains as a thorn between our relationships.
Perhaps a lot of things had left unsaid and we were both unclear of what we
should do.
I am clear that currently we are both at the stage of avoiding the problem. I do know we should work and discuss to solve the problems to achieved the win-win situation. However this is easier said than done in most cases. So the question is how do I achieved this win-win situation without her resenting my opinions and cause a deterioration in our relationships?
