I struggle when it comes to knowing how to handle confrontation and I always have. I think it's partly due to the fact that even the word "confrontation" is negative and insinuates something difficult and ugly. I've tried to look at it as "addressing the issue" after discussing it with my sister but it hasn't seemed to have helped. This entire lack of action in response to things that upset/hurt/annoy/etc. me has resulted in me becoming the person who goes out of my way to avoid addressing the things that I don't like in order to avoid ugliness which has resulted in me feeling like a welcome mat at times...usually to the same people. I've tried to repeat the mantra "pick your battles" to myself but the difficulty in that (at least for me) comes from finding the line in the sand that says "Battles You Should Fight" to one side and "Lighten Up" to the other. The times when I've grown hair on my nuts and spoken out for myself have garnered a mixed bag of reactions ranging from "no big thing" to "holy hell just broke loose," so looking at it in that light doesn't seem to help me much.

Maybe this is something with which quite a few people struggle and maybe I'll find a way to work through it someday. And maybe Mother Nature made me this way for a reason and I'm just who I'm supposed to be and no matter what, I really need to just take a deep breath and chill the fuck out...