There are a lot of assholes in the world. I probably don’t need to tell you that. They’re in our schools, our places of work, our friend groups – sometimes they’re even in our own families.
It’s probably debatable the true key to happiness but, for me, it’s staying away from assholes.
As a younger person, I found myself going to war with assholes. Whenever there was a conflict at work, I was in it to win it. But over time, I’ve realized that life is so much happier without having to deal with them.
But how do you avoid assholes when they’re everywhere.
See the signs.
Assholes throw out tons of red flags, even early on in knowing them. If you make a new friend or get a new co-worker who seems aggressive toward others, realize there’s a good chance they’ll wind up aggressive toward you as well. If they’re talking behind peoples’ backs and gossiping, they’re probably doing the same thing to you as well.
Beware, assholes tend to be charming people. They can seem friendly and eager to please, but there’s two sides to every coin. Don’t ignore the red flags.
Know what to say.
Avoiding assholes is the best thing that you can do for your happiness in life, but they can’t always be ignored. Sometimes we work with them and are related to them. Fortunately, you can prepare yourself for everyday encounters by practicing how you respond to different situations.
Assholes are putting on a show, so you’d might as well do the same thing. Learn your lines. Speak from an internal script. And by knowing your lines and knowing how to respond to assholes, you’re taking all of the wind out of their sails and mitigating their impact on your life.
If you can’t walk away from an asshole forever, just blow them off.
The ultimate goal of dealing with an asshole you can’t get rid of is to take all of the gas out of their tank, so to speak. If you can’t just walk away from them, if you’re stuck with them for good, maybe the best thing you can do is simply stop caring about what it is they’re saying and what it is they’re doing.
Assholes behave the way they do in order to get more of what they want out of life.
Often time, that’s simply attention. So just blow them off when they’re being assholes.
Conversely, lavish on the attention when they’re actually being kind of cool. Keep in mind that everyone is capable of change, even assholes. So give them the opportunity and help them along if you can.
