Some people are conflict avoiders, others embrace conflict and try to sort it out as soon as possible. Both approaches have their problems: some conflicts are so significant that they can’t be avoided, while others are so inflammatory that to try and solve them immediately would only make the situation worse.
Sometimes, when letting a conflict go – something that you’ve decided is no longer worth worrying about; it’s run its course – it can come back to haunt you later. Just when you thought that enough time has passed that something will no longer cause you any more trouble, that you’ve successfully "let sleeping dogs lie", the dog wakes up.
Today, I’ve been reminded that sorting out conflict sooner rather than later is worth the effort. Otherwise, the cause of the conflict can expand in the background, and cause even more trouble. A stitch in time, as it were.
If you can think of a conflict that you’ve ignored, in the hope that it will go away, let me encourage you to sort out your differences with the other person, rather than ignoring it, and hoping that it goes away.
wow Dave, T and I were discussing this very issue last night! I, as you can imagine, avoid conflict, while T is never one to shy away from an arguement. T tends to deal with things straight away and finds that once dealt with he moves on very quickly. I find that by not dealing with things at the time, i let them bother me much longer than they really should and they never really get resolved. Anyway my good news is i dealt with an issue today and i do feel much better for it. Whilst i didn’t address the situation at the moment it happened, i found that by holding off for a day or so and waiting until the emotion was out of my thought process, i was able to say what i needed to in a way that i was comfortable with. Here’s do dealing with conflict better!
Good to hear! It’s amazing how miserable it’s possible to be over conflict, and equally how easy things are to resolve compared to how bad we think the process will be.Of course, being a glass-half-empty person, I tend to focus on how bad the resolution process will be… the next step is to put this into practice some more.