The Jefferson Fisher Podcast - Stop Letting People Use Their Personality as an Excuse

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

In this call-in episode, I’m answering your real questions about difficult people, passive-aggressive comments, toxic relationships, setting boundaries, and what to say when someone disrespects you. We talk about how to stay calm without staying silent, how to stop overexplaining yourself, and why the right question can completely change a conversation. If you’ve ever struggled with someone who drains your peace, pushes your boundaries, or makes communication feel impossible, this episode is for you. Leave me a voicemail to be featured on the show! https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/ask-jefferson  Join me on Supercast for ad-free episodes, bonus content, and AMAs: https://jefferson.supercast.com/ Order The Next Conversation Workbook: https://www.jeffersonfisher.com/workbook Thank you to our sponsors: Cozy Earth. Upgrade Your Every Day. Get 20% off at cozyearth.com/jefferson or use code JEFFERSON at check out. LMNT. Head to https://drinkLMNT.com/jefferson to try risk free. Dose. Save 35% on your first month of subscription by going to dosedaily.co/JEFFERSON or entering JEFFERSON at checkout. BetterHelp. Click https://betterhelp.com/jeffersonfisher for a discount on your first month of therapy. Order my book, The Next Conversation, or listen to the full audiobook today. Like what you hear? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review! Suggest a topic or ask a question for me to answer on the show!  Want a FREE communication tip each week? Click here to join my newsletter.  Join My School of Communication Watch my podcast on YouTube  Follow me on Instagram  Follow me on TikTok Follow me on LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Jefferson Fisher podcast. Today I have the absolute privilege of listening to some more voicemails, and I get to answer them, and we're going to hit it right now. I have a daughter-in-law. She's a stepdaughter-in-law, who is very, I think, rude, but she's a lawyer, and she says, I'd like to be very direct. And then she hits you with a zinger and tells you how awful you are, and blah, blah, blah, tells you off.

It's a pattern she's had. She's done some really bad ones once she did a three-day letter to tell me off. What's behind all this with her, and how do I counter that? So there's this thing that some people have that they, this is what it sounds like. This is just my personality. This is just how I am. I'm just very direct. And they use that as some type of excuse to say not nice things, to things that are rude,

things that aren't kind. And yet they feel like they have some shroud of immunity because they go, Well, this is just my personality. You don't need to take that. This is what I want you to do instead. Questions are far more powerful than statements, especially when somebody's being rude. When somebody says, hey, this is just my personality. You get to ask the question, is that a personality or is this a choice?

Is this a personality or is this a choice? You say how instead of me going and turning into a statement of accusation and saying, no, it's not personality this is how you're just choosing to be this is how you are like that's only going to make it worse but if you ask the question then they get to actually think about it and now there's a spotlight on how they're treating you and now they have to go through the middle exercise of answering that question or choosing to accept their bad behavior right so we're going to you do these where you give them choices and almost always people tend to do the more reasonable choice of walking it back rather than doubling it down. Another thing, when somebody is, you ask the question of, you know, what's behind all that?

What's behind all that? I'll tell you what's behind all that. It is a inner insecurity that if they are not people that are like very brisk, very, I just, they always have the spikes out. They're always somebody who is overtly confrontational just for the sake of it. That is them being extremely defensive on the inside of fear of looking weak at all costs because they're afraid that if they do look weak, then they lose something. They lose that identity and most likely that's something that how she has been, this stepdaughter and a lot of yours has been long before she ever came anywhere near your life and your family. So I don't want you think you're going to be changing that.

When I'm telling you, it's not going to change that behavior. What I'm going to teach you is how to deal with that behavior. And it starts with, one, what I just told you is turning statements into questions. I want you to get really disciplined about turning statements into questions. Two, when she makes those kind of grouchy responses that you say, man, they're just zingers, they hurt you. I want you to not be afraid of beginning. your question with did you mean? Did you mean for that to sting? Did you mean for that to hurt?

Wow. Did you mean for that to hit me like that? Like it's a great way of being a mirror for them to realize, hey, what you're saying has an impact. And if she's okay with hurting you, that's a much bigger problem than we're going to ever talk about on this quick voicemail. What I'm telling you, is these are the kind of things that you need to have in your arsenal. And three, I want you to realize where you rank this person in your life. I have no idea how close you are, but I want you to realize that there are circles, and there is people that you keep close and people you know to keep far away. And so if she's somebody who continues to give zingers and continues to take more than she gives and always feels like, that's just my personality, you don't need to put up with that. You don't need to be anywhere near

that you limit that kind of behavior. Overall, what I want you to realize is when you get those kind of, this is just my personality, this is just who I am, you get to ask the question, is it who you are or who you're wanting to be? Is this how you are naturally, or is this a new choice for you?

And you get to even say like, it doesn't sound like a personality, it sounds like a problem, sounds like an issue, sounds like you're upset, sounds like something else is going on. There's these starters that I also like. It sounds like, seems like.

You know, it sounds like there's something else going on. Sounds like you hear what I mean. You're mirroring that kind of language without being direct to the point of a direct attack. Instead, you're opening up to invite a little bit more conversation if it is warranted. But turn questions into statements. Don't put up with it. Thanks. Hi, this is Kelly.

I am a sales leader for a large organization, and I live in Charleston, South Carolina. And I am curious, what is the best way to respond to a backhanded compliment? Sometimes I will receive backhanded compliments from some of my peers within my organization. and it feels obvious to me the motive is behind a back-handed compliment, but I'm curious what would be the best way to respond in the moment to one. I'd appreciate your advice. Thanks so much. Great question.

Here's what I want you to do. The next time you get one of these back-handed compliments from a coworker or client or whatever it is, take what they said in regurgitative. it back and add a question mark at the end. That's it. Backhand a compliment, I want you to just repeat it, put a question mark at the end of it. So if somebody, let's say a backhand of compliment, I'm just making this up, somebody came to you and said, oh, it's so great that you're here. It's nice that you're finally on time. You hear how passive that's kind of dismissive, this backhand a compliment in some way.

you get to repeat it and go, it's so great that I'm here, like, as if you're questioning what their motive is, what they're coming from. And it might sound that you didn't understand it. That's not how it's going to come across to you. It's going to come across that you heard exactly what they said, but something doesn't add up. All right. So, number one, you can repeat it back with a question mark, which is going to make them explain it. And number two, another, I'm going to give you three different options so you can pick and choose which one that you want, that best matches with you. So one is they're repeating it back at a question mark.

I like that one because it then makes the other person explain. Number two, another option that you can have is to ask them in almost this very confident tone, tell me more, tell me more what you meant by that. Tell me more about that. What did you mean by that? Tell me more about that. So whenever you ask for more information, you, in this case, instead of asking them verbatim what they said, now you get to be a little bit more direct. So you crank this up a little bit in directness of saying, give me more information. Oh, that's interesting comment. Tell me more about that. Tell me more about that. more about that. So that allows them to kind of go, I mean, what I meant to say was, I mean,

you know, to try and what they say in the South, Hemen Hall over what exactly they meant to say. Number three, the other one that I would, without knowing exactly what's going to back in a compliment, they're going to give, is this is going to be, I'm going to give you one, We're increasing in directness scale, right? Just depending on your own temperature. This is using the word backhanded. Okay? Might feel uncomfortable to you.

So try it out. Try it out a few times before we actually use it. And that's using, it sounds like this. That sounds kind of backhanded. Or you can even ask as a question. I like that even better. Did you mean for that to be backhanded? Was that supposed to be backhanded?

Like you hear how they automatically, their response, especially if it's a back-endic compliment, is for them to go, oh, no, I mean, what I mean was, and they're going to adjust and try and tweak. But here's the takeaway. You can't stop them from saying it the first time, but you can stop them from saying it the second time. There's your power.

You can't stop them from saying stupid things. But you can make sure that they know that the second stupid thing they said is not something you're going to take. And it's by how you respond to the first one is going to significantly, significantly impact. your likelihood of getting a second stupid thing that they said. So whenever you're able to say, was that supposed to be backhanded? Like, did you hit that with the forehand or backhand?

Which one is that? Almost be playful with it. Then there, you see how then it doesn't look like it hits you. Here's the takeaway, too, on top of this that I want to touch on. if you act as if like how dare you do this say this that's going to give them that energy and control that they were looking for they're going to see that and go got it but instead if you keep this very calm composed almost playful inquisitive of where's this coming from was that meant to be backhanded that allows you to keep that energy of I'm not accepting this. I haven't accepted this yet. I'm more concerned in question of where are you sending this from? So it's like, okay, I get the delivery address, but where are you

sending it from here? Like, I know it's you, but what's going on inside of you that would make you want to say something like that? That's the kind of behavior that I want you to take on. Cool? Awesome question. We don't put up with backhanded compliments. Get out of here. Before we get going, I want to take a moment to tell you about cozy earth. I love cozy earth because everything that they make is top line premium quality. I was never somebody who truly cared about towels until I tried a cozy earth towel. One, they have towels that are blankets. If you've never had a towel blanket, let me do you a favor and tell you that you need to get one because they're the size, there's tall as your head, and they feel awesome and they're plush and they're great.

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That's cozy earth.com slash Jefferson. Use the go jefferson for up to 20%. sent off. Let's keep going. Hi, Jessison. Thank you. You have helped me so much. I'm so grateful. I have a narcissistic husband that is also psychopathic. He intentionally inflicts and says things that he knows are my wounds to create pain, knowing it will hurt me and then laugh and then I'm to blame for when I react. everything I'm to blame for he puts me down belittles me

everything he can think of please how do I communicate with him I'm wanting to leave him but still he won't hear me he continues to say nasty horrible things wanting me to take accountability

responsibility please how do I communicate with him he won't understand me. I won't listen. He just won't listen. He won't hear me. Everything's about him. So please, how do I deal with him? I'm living in the same house as him, and I'm needing to get him for me to move forward. I'm needing to get him to agree to pay me out without ripping me off. He has all control and power. He loves it. He thrives on it. He gets pleasure out of seeing me

when I'm upset and in pain. It's literally disgusting. But please, how do I communicate with him and not react? Thank you. Love your work. That is horrible. I mean, I can't even speak to the situation that you're in. What I do know is that nobody deserves that.

That is unfair. That is unjustified. that is a zero-toleration policy. Your question is, how do I communicate with him? You don't. You need to go communicate to some lawyers. That's who you need to go communicate to. Some divorce lawyers, okay?

How do I communicate with him? If what you say is true, that it doesn't matter how you've communicated that, hey, can you understand how what you're saying hurts me? Do you understand how this impacts me that he's laughing and he's taking joy in your pain? It doesn't matter what you say, he's turning this around.

You stop playing in his sandbox. Okay? What you're trying to do is build, trying to build some type of something to have a communication, to have a conversation, a real conversation that's genuine, and he can't do it. That's not a you problem. That's a him problem. So for you to say, how do I communicate with him? Anybody who has a narcissistic type of tendencies, and I will say that we all have them, right? They range. He sounds

terrible, okay? If what you say is true, that, that sounds just absolutely intolerable. you have to understand that every time you get into this, I want to communicate with him, he's going to turn it into one or two things. It's what I call praise or provoke. Meaning, if you're not telling him how awesome he is and how good he is, like you said, he just takes so much joy in this,

then he's going to turn it to now provoke you into you getting upset. And he's going to fan that flame all day, every day. Why? Because that's that sense of control. He's not going to be able to do empathy. So please, don't expect for there to be movement from a boulder, okay, that's not going to happen. And that is hard to hear. And that might even feel like a shock to you to hear. But I know what you're hearing is you're nodding your head and knowing deep down that it's true. Okay. So what do we do? we stop trying to communicate with him, and I need you to start communicating with some attorneys to get you out of this relationship. That's what, because nobody deserves

what you're going through. If you have, I'm not, I want to be very clear. I'm not promoting divorce. I'm not promoting that there should not try to be something worked out and that there can't be this. And I'm not trying to push any type of idea. what I am saying and pushing for is your emotional safety, your physical safety, and your mental health. And if those three are at risk, then this is not a relationship that is continuing to be good for you.

And if it is so true that you find and agree that this relationship is not good for you, then there are methods and solutions to that. One of which, the options that you have at your disposal, is to leave this relationship. and I can tell you what will strike quicker than anything for these type of personalities of whom I have spoken to many is they call a letter, any communication from somebody with some legal authority, whether it's a judge, whether it's an attorney. I understand that, of course, that's not going to stop their kind of behavior, but it can keep you out of it. That's not going to change who they are because we've seen and I've seen countless times people who do not change their stripes, even through a huge divorce proceeding. They're still going to be that same person. What you're doing is getting that separation and invoking other people into it that you do have the ability. Should you need to enforce it, you can enforce it. So what I'm telling you is you have capabilities to give yourself agency. That's what I'm. I'm saying. I am appalled. I'm appalled by that kind of behavior and that you'd have to live

with this and deal with this. I can't even imagine what that life is like. And I know you, I know you are not alone. Okay. I know there are people listening right now who are just nod in their head and say, I know exactly what this is like. I know exactly what this is like. So I don't want you to, I don't want you to hear this, listen to me, do not hear this and think, I'm all by myself, and nobody knows what this is like. A lot of people. Way more than you think, know exactly what this is like. Everybody is listening to this and you know what this caller's talking about and you're living this life right now. I'm going to encourage you to just go into the comments over you're listening and just let her know she's been, you've been there too. You've been there too.

Or maybe you're there right now. Or even as simple, you're not alone. Because it's going to help a lot more people than, you know, leaving this note with me, this voicemail, for us to give some voice to this kind of thing. That's what we're doing it for. All right. Thank you for that call. This is Tanya and I'm not going to take three minutes. Why do I have to explain to a gentleman and I just want to be friends. They keep sticking around. I have explained myself once or twice, I'm done, right? What do I need to do to get it through their heads?

I only want to be friends. Well, it's probably because you're so amazing and awesome. That's why he didn't want to be friends. Okay, what do you, how do we handle this? How do you communicate this? Knowing full well, you're awesome. Of course, he'd want to be friends. with you. But you just want to be friends. How do we communicate this to this, this boneheaded caveman

who won't get a grip, you know? Catch a drift. How do we communicate this? All right, here's some things that come to mind. And we're going to go from easiest to most serious. You ready? Number one, I know you think you told them. Do you just want to be friends? just because you think you said it doesn't mean that's exactly what's received. So let's, let's do a conversation check, which means with this individual, the next time he's kind of hanging around or you'll have a conversation and you just want to be friends. By the way, if you want to be friends, so is this y'all wanting to hang out or not hang out? You need to make that decision. So obviously you don't want anything romantic. You don't want anything to go past that.

if he's hanging out, why are you letting him hang out? I'm questioned. I'm curious about this. Okay. Well, still, how are we going to communicate that? Conversation check. What does that sound like? Sounds like the next time that y'all are in conversation and you feel like he's pressing it a little too far, I want you to ask the question. I want you to say, when I said that I just wanted to be friends with you, what did you hear? How did that lay in for you? and get him to answer that. I want to know, what did you hear when I told you that I just wanted to be friends? Now, you can do that in a very polite, positive, nice, friendly way.

But you need to know what he's hearing, okay? Because he's not getting the point. He's not getting the point. Number two, we're going to ratchet this up, okay? This is where you get to be a little bit more assertive of if he's trying to make a move on you? You know what I'm talking about. Or he's trying to be a little bit too friendly. This is where you get to say, only friends. Like, you see how you don't even have to, you're not making it a conversation. You're not asking a question. This is you kind of putting out a very

little bit more friendly version of a boundary where just two words, only friends. Yeah? Doesn't that feel comfortable? Where are you, yeah, let's go have coffee as only friends. Yeah, I'm willing to do this as friends. Yeah, so maybe as friends, only friends. Yeah, let's try something like that. I like that as friends. I think I'll lean on that better as friends.

You start adding that to everything that you say. Yeah, I'll go out to coffee with you as friends. Cool. Until it's, we're pressing the point until you. you realize you don't have to say it anymore. Number three, okay, if this guy's hanging around you, I'm just telling you, you have options, okay, you have legal options. They're called a restraining order if you need to keep somebody away from you. All right? So I'm going to go serious for like five seconds. You ready? Hey, if this is somebody that's really not leaving you alone and they're waiting

for you outside of your house and falling you around and showing up places, that is if I had a red flag, I would wave it really big in front of my face right now. If you're listening, just imagine me waving a big, big red flag. You need to go to law enforcement and you can apply for and get a restraining order on this individual, especially if you feel like you are threatened in some way to where it's gotten to way creepier level that you need to do something about it. Cool. Okay, now, that's the serious. What I feel like from your call, the zone that we're in, the friend zone of this call, is that using the as friends line through everything as a repeat and then asking the question of, when you heard me say, just friends, what did that, what did you hear me say?

How did that come across to you? How did you receive? How did you receive? that. And you're going to find out real quickly if they really got it or if they heard something else and they were just in La La Land looking at your beauty and they didn't hear a single thing. Right. So that's that's my take on somebody who's just not getting the point. Great question. Before we get going, I want to take a moment to tell you about Element, which as Mike gets called it, salty water. Element is an easy way to stay hydrower. It comes in packs also in like silcer cans where it's very salty, but it's the good stuff. Where it's no sugar, it gives you lots of electrolytes and keeps you hydrated, which is great.

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Let's keep going. My conversation questions and problems relate to teenagers. I'm a grandmother of a teenager, and I spend quite a bit of time with him, and I find him sometimes to be... like to know it all, slightly disrespectful, just with the tone and the attitude of our conversations. So I'm wondering if you could offer any advice on having conversations with teenagers, young teenagers, 13, 14, 15 in that age bracket. I appreciate all the advice I get from your show.

so thank you very much if you can address this type of problem. Diane W. Thank you for that question. How do you handle teenagers? I want to call out this disclaimer for this. This is a grandmother, grandson dynamic, different than mother-son dynamic, or grandmother to great-nephew or something like that. So this is a different dynamic.

And you should, you already know this with teenagers, and anybody who has a teenager, no, I don't know if we're talking about 13 or 19. Very different, very different teen ages. Of course, I mean, that doesn't surprise me. Of course he's going to be a know-it-all. He's a teenager. Like, of course, he's going to sound a little bit more disrespectful

or rude or grumpy, angsty. He's a teenager. So I don't want to fame the flames of this is his personality forever. It's all going to be terrible. We're going to have to do something right now. And I'm going to give you some phrases that you can use that's going to change the trajectory of his life. Nope. That's not what this.

That's not why I can't do that. I can't do that. What I can tell you, right, knowing that full well, a teenager's a teenager is how, if I I can help you approach this a little bit differently is coming at it from the standpoint of rather than when he says something like you don't understand. You don't understand, grandma, maybe you're a Nana. I had a me, ma'all, you know, whatever it is. And instead of you going, yeah, I do understand or thinking, no, you don't understand. You take the position of, you're right, I don't understand.

I don't understand. You're going to know things that I don't know, and this is a world that I didn't grow up in. You're right. I don't understand. So you're kind of taking this more of a position of just choosing to love him for who he is and knowing, and I'm sure you pray a lot for him,

of who he's going to be. And whether you know it or not, you being the model in a safe place for him to make the mistakes is probably going to do more for him than anything else I could give you. For example, I could say the next time he says something that's, you know, very know-it-a-a-a-lawy in some sense, you could respond with something as simple as, well, you know, I'd be careful to make judgments of knowing everything. I'd be careful before you do X, Y, and Z. Sure, you could try that.

Is that really going to change his behavior? Probably not. But you being there and loving him, that's going to last a whole lot more. Now, if he's saying rude things to you, we already know that's a no-go. You don't do that to Nana. All right? So that has a lot more to do with what your enforcement of that would be how you want to approach that. But what I heard you ask for is not exact phrases, but really more of the, how do you deal with this of a teenager and this current generation of how do you approach that?

I find that you're going to want to enforce and cut it off and cut it down. And I don't know the situation with him parentally. But what I know in my life, my grandmother did very well was allow me just a safe place, even for me to not be my best. and sometimes that's that's what we need because our parents can just they're kind of in the role they're closer to us and they are the one having to push and press and mold and force as grandmothers grandparents you kind of just become a safe place for that that doesn't mean we're accepting ugliness towards you that's something different entirely but the ability to caution be a guide

Maybe you could try this. Here's a thought. The next time that he says something, no at allie, all right? I want you to ask the question of, you know what I've learned? You know what I've learned? And that he's going to say,

what have you learned? He's not going to say, no, I don't want to hear it. He's going to say, he's going to say, way of you've learned. I've learned that X, Y, Z. Now, you're showing off of your life experience, rather than directing him what he should do, what he should not do.

So a lot of the times when you say, you're not, you don't know everything, that's one method, versus, you know what I've learned? The older I get, the less I really know. And sometimes I thought I used to know a lot. And then when I hit 50 or I hit 60 or whatever it is, I've learned you really, there's a lot you think you just, you know, but you really don't. And so you hear how it turns it without trying to be confrontational. So instead of the you, it says, let me share something that I've learned.

That's where I'd go with that. I know you're good grandmother. And the fact that you call and care, that speaks volumes. So continue to be the good grandmother that you are. Thanks for the call. Hello, my name is Joanne. I live in Atlanta. Atlanta.

And I have been following you for some time. I'm interested in the times when you say silence works best. If you've been insulted or if you've been interrupted, that taking a breath and being silent and letting their comment just land, I've tried that. unfortunately, whomever I'm communicating with will just keep talking. They will run right past my silence, not even noticing my silence. And I want to know, what do I do in those situations? If I have either been insulted or I have been interrupted, how do I handle that when, obviously, a silence is not an option?

And what do you do? Silence is definitely something that helps a lot. and I strongly encourage the use of it, especially when you're getting these negative, rude, disrespectful comments, letting those words land. I hear you saying, look, I've tried that. And this person just used that space and kept on talking.

Not acceptable. We're not going to do that. That means we're dealing with somebody different. Silence is not a one-size-fits-all for every personality. Some of these people are just going to continue to say this kind of ugly stuff. Here are some thoughts that I have and how, I would recommend you handle that situation. Number one, you need to vocalize your silence. Now that sounds weird, right? What do you mean? Vocalize my sounds. I'm supposed to be silent.

It sounds like this. When they say that ugly thing, you get to say, stop, I need to let, I need to sit with what you just said. If they continue to talk you, I need to sit with what you just said. I'm still sitting with it. And you invoke that silence. okay that silence is yours to have you need that silence if they do not give it to you then that is the end of the conversation okay that's this is not a i'm just going to sit there while they continue to railroad and just make me walk on eggshells and i just get walked right over nope we're not that's not what this is that's not what we do here okay so one you've vocalize your need for silence.

That sounds like, I need to sit with what you just said. No, I need to let that just hang for a moment. Give me five seconds. I need five seconds to really sit with what you just said. And then take that time. If they won't give it to you, that's where you get to be a lot more assertive in using their name,

saying their name, maybe their name is Jefferson. I don't know. Jefferson, I need five seconds to sit with what you just told me. If I can't take that time, then I need to exit this conversation. That sounds harsh, but if they're belittling you, disrespecting you, yeah, that's also equally harsh. And it's not so that we have to play nice with them being ugly.

That's not the game. We're not doing that. So vocalize, vocalize your time. say it out loud. Two, any time you feel like they are pushing against that in some way, okay, they're not. I'm going to use the word boundary. If they're pushing against this boundary of this need for time, then I need you to vocalize a timeout.

Okay, that's more than just being in the conversation that is saying, I need to exit this conversation. I need to pause this conversation until I, I can actually regulate my system with what you just said. So do not be afraid to say, I need to take a time out. No, I need a moment. Pause, leave the room in the phone call. I will talk to you later.

I need to sit with what that. And I need a time out. You know what? I need to take a step back from this conversation. and I will talk to you later. And if they push and push and push, this is where you get to be more sort of, I said, I will talk to you later.

This is not where you get to go, listen, you know what, I am so tired of you and you just amp up and amp up, and this is where you start to over-explain and start to justify and go, I'm sorry. You know what, I just can't, nope, none of that. Do you hear me? None of that.

Be more, crank up the assertiveness style from about one to four and say, I said, I will talk to you later. You hear how when I slowed my words down, the more serious I sounded. The more I lowered my voice and I slowed it down, the more serious it sounded. Instead of that, look, I'll talk to you later, okay?

I'll just talk to you later. I said I'll talk to you later. Take how believable that is from, I said, I will talk to you later. Which one sounds more believable? Which one sounds like, oh, okay, they really do sound. Like, they did not like what I just said, and I have messed up royally. It's going to be the second option.

So slowing down your words, grounding yourself, and, hey, you aren't going to dictate what I am going to do and say, you don't get a choice in that three. I love this phrase, I get to decide that. Oh, I love this phrase so much. If they push back on you of, look, I mean, you're just making a big deal out of this. Or look, I said I was just joking. Or they're trying to dismiss that you're saying, hey, I need a time out. And they're trying to minimize that because they're going to feel bad about it. And the way they're going to minimize is try to amp it up a little bit, as if what you're doing is weak, as if what you're doing is unnecessary, that's, it's because they're afraid of what they just said and they're trying not to feel worse about it. That's where shame starts to kick in, and they're going to start blaming you rather than in

that moment, able to see what they've done. That's all the more evidence you need, that time needs to enter into the premises, all right? This is where you get to say, I get to decide that. No matter what they said, you're just, you're just, you're blowing this up. You know, You're being crazy. You're turning this into whatever. I get to decide that. Click. You're done.

All right? You walk. Just as you're a mic drop moment, Diane, right there. That's for you. I get to decide that. And then you get to choose. That's the great part. You get to choose if you're going to come into that conversation again.

And I would be willing to bet that you give it. a few hours and that person who has made that comment and has been pushing is going to be the exact same person is going to be the exact same person who comes in and might even, with clarity now, in regulation, see the error of their ways. Or they might not. But either way, they're going to give you information that is data to collect rather than something that you're going to use to make you feel less. Cool? Cool. What a good question. Thanks for that. Before we going, I want to take a moment to tell you about dose. Now, I want to give you a heads up. Dose is something that I've been taking probably for about six months, and it has made a

positive improvement on my life, and this is why I'm happy to share it with you. One of the things that now I'm at the age where I need to take it seriously is cholesterol. Yeah, cholesterol. My dad has high cholesterol. My grandfather has high cholesterol. It's just in the family, and I stay fit and active, have a healthy weight, and yet, when I get my blowout back, I have high So what are some ways I can do to take care of myself? Well, one of those is dose for cholesterol. It's a clinically backed cholesterol support supplement that targets triclycerides, LDL, HDL, and total cholesterol levels. And I only talk about products when there's something I like to use, especially when it's something that can affect health. It's a two-out shot that I typically take after a meal. Sometimes I just take it

because I think it's something I want to make sure I try and take every day. It tastes like mango. It tastes great. Really good. They also have a dose for liver, which is also good. In fact, I think it tastes even better. It's simple. It's just a two ounce liquid shot.

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And here we go. Hi, my name is Valeria. I'm calling from Sydney. Currently going through a mediation process with my ex-husband of 18 years. It's been highly conflictive. He's become extremely controlling and has not have any involvement with our children up until now where financial settlements are due to be finalised. My question is in high conflict mediation meetings,

we don't get to speak very often as he is not willing to have a regulated conversation without resorting to aggression. What is the best way to proceed during mediation? We've got upcoming in two weeks. my question if it would be what is the best

approach from my side to get the best results and solutions through mediation without it becoming emotionally driven given the amount of pain

and anger that is coming from that side Valeria from Sydney Australia thank you for that question. The topic really dives into mediation. When I hear you saying you're dealing with a divorce proceeding, you have mediation, there are kids involved. High, high, high, high emotion. Every mediation

that I've ever been in, there is a mediator, right, whose job is to make sure that both sides don't get too heated. Their job is to go between two different rooms, two different parties, two different people. It doesn't have to be physically on the same location. It could be virtually, virtually, in some sense or even by telephone. But yeah, in mediation, most likely you're not going to have what they call an opening statement to where both sides are in the same room and you could say something and they get to say something. Most likely that's not going to happen because it's just going to be too contentious. Instead, you'll be in a separate place with your attorney and he'll be in a separate place with his attorney. And this is the mindset I want you to have because you asked the right

question. You said, what's the approach that I should have into this, you know, not getting to making sure it doesn't explode on the emotion scale for you. Number one is what you're already doing is that you're keeping your kids at the forefront. And it's this bigger question of want versus need. There are a lot of things you wish were different that you want. And it's at a place where it's not going to happen. And it's, there's been a decision that the marriage is not going to continue in the form that it is. And so the marriage is going to be dissolved. So it gets into now what do you need. And any time in mediation, every mediator will tell you this. Their job is not to get you all what you want, and at the same extent their job is not to get everything that he wants. They have to

find a way to compromise, meaning they have to find a number. They have to find the exact point on the spectrum or the plane that both sides will say yes to that means both people are going to be disappointed right that's that's the way mediation goes if one side is happy and one side is sad it's a bad mediation that's most likely rarely if ever going to happen it's also true that it's probably not going to be where one side's happening the other side's really happy it's going to be who can live with whatever is being asked and offered? And you have to answer the question yourself of, can I live with what is being presented?

So I want you to have that mindset of, is this something that I can deal with? Number two, though you can't see it right now, okay, there's going to be an end to it in six weeks, in six months, in two years. I want you to have this state of mind that how you will speak, how you present yourself,

how you will behave and conduct this mediation and your part in it, I want you to be proud of who that person is two years from now, eight years from now, because time is going to fly. Before you know it, all your worries about this are not going to be in the rear view mirror

and you're going to have other things. and you're going to have joys, so much joys, with your kids, and the future life that you're going to have. And so keep in mind that there will be an end to this. There will be a light at the end of the tunnel. So do not think that going into the mediation, this is the sum of your life. Listen to me, this is just a paragraph on a page in the full chapter of your story. So don't get in this state of mind that this is the very end of the book, right? year. No, it sounds like it might be the end of one big chapter, 18 years worth of a chapter. True,

absolutely. But you know what? After this mediation's over, you get to turn the page on a whole new chapter. That's probably going to be 30 more years of amazing. All right, so keep that in mind. That's the approach I want you to have. Not that this is something that's supposed to feel good. It's not going to. What I want you to keep in mind is that it's something that is going to be good for you in your life. I'm somebody who truly believes that all things work for good. And I know that the same is true for you and your family. And you may not feel it right now. Most likely you won't feel it in the next month.

But a few years from now, you're going to look back. And I want you to be really, really proud of the person that you're going to be. Thanks for that call. The Madamy Holmes bike for brain health supporting Baycrest returns on May 31st for its fifth anniversary with a new start and finish at the Aga Khan Museum. Join thousands of cyclists as we take over

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