a little victory

I'm not usually one to hesitate when it comes to speaking my mind. *pause for laughter*

But every once in a while I come up against a personality who makes me feel so uncomfortable, so helpless; a personality that pushes all of my buttons in such a way that I somehow clam up and seethe and let them claim unhealthy amounts of power over me.

There's one of those in my life right now, and I've spent a good deal of my energy lately trying to figure out constructive ways to deal with the situation--even to the point of seeking professional counsel in areas of conflict resolution and consensus-building. I'm not sure it's working.

But there was one situation in which I decided I needed to make my voice heard. I thought long and hard about how to approach it, what my talking points would be, and how to keep my cool in the face of frustrating passive-aggression and filibustering and stony coldness. And this weekend, I did it-- I spoke my mind, I stuck to my talking points, I kept my cool... and found that I had lots and lots of support from unexpected corners.

Man, reclaiming power feels good. I don't think I'll stop here. :-)