WE SOMETIMES complain that somebody else is driving us crazy, but this can’t happen unless we’re captive victims in an inescapable, destructive environment, such as infants in dysfunctional families or prisoners-of-war in brainwashing programs. Regardless of how obnoxious another person may seem, we don’t have to react by emotionally coming apart at the seams. However, if the other person has some political power over us, we may have tough decisions to make, such as confrontations that risk our possibilities for promotion or even losing our jobs.
Most of the time when we complain that the attitudes and behavior of our boss or co-worker are terribly annoying, we are overlooking our own contribution to how unhappy we feel. The missing piece is how we react to the unpleasantness they create.
We have many alternatives besides going crazy. Of our various options, the only one that makes no sense at all is holding someone else responsible for the misery created by our own reactions.
How we react to stress is our own responsibility.