The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I've known many people I could describe as being conflict-avoidant. This includes: Friends, family, exes, even myself a few years ago. Granted, I don't know too many people whom would ever stand up and proudly declare, "You know what I love more than anything else? Nope, not football, not beer, not pizza. I love conflicts!" However, what many conflict-avoidant individuals don't seem to realize is that by avoiding conflicts to avoid stress and drama, they're making the situation more stressful for themselves, and as the tension escalates over time, when the conflict is finally confronted, the stress and drama may be at such a boiling point that it will be virtually impossible to fully resolve the conflict. Conflict-avoidance is not the same as conflict-resolution. In fact, by being conflict-avoidant, one is essentially avoiding resolution. When one sits down and thinks about it, it's all fairly common sense. It's like with personal problems. If one do...