How to Deal with Mean People

Have you been in contact with someone who you feel is really mean towards you? Do their actions make you feel bad or do you end up feeling grumpy? Well, you might be feeling that you reciprocate their actions but we advise you to not to.

Being kind is definitely not an easy part of life, especially when you are dealing with mean people around you but you will surely feel much better by taking positive actions.

Some common traits of mean people include:

They are just rude towards you
They often lie and backstab you
Everything about them is just fake
They don’t feel sorry about their actions
They use manipulation to make you feel bad
Their vibes can just make you cringe
Mean people feel that they can never go wrong and it’s only them who are right
They are totally inconsiderate towards anyone’s beliefs

Table of Contents

Tips On Dealing with Mean People

If you are dealing with such people, you are not alone! We are here to back you up and help you with tips on how to deal with mean people.

Focus On What You Can Control

Look at the situation closely you are dealing with and the person involved here. Look at the elements you can control when a conversation is taking place. Make sure that you are not rushing into anything or else diffusing the situation could go out of hand. Instead you can be an observer and someone who speaks after measuring your words.

You can even choose to make a list of things that you shall avoid around the particular person. This mean person could be a part of your family, colleague or a neighbor, so make sure you choose your control carefully.

Set A Foundation Of Self Care

It may sound a little off beat but believe us, it is an important part of dealing with mean people. When you are better prepared mentally, you take care of your surroundings better and control yourself. If you are not prepared to tackle such people, they will simply walk over you. Find more ways to strengthen your mental health, self esteem and self worth. Get a good rest, spend time with yourself and find the best ways to improve your mood.

Practice Art Of Solving Problems

Instead of getting annoyed and irritated by the presence of mean people around you, it is better to find how to resolve the issue. It is possible that they act mean with you either out of frustration or just for fun. Give yourself some time to observe and find different solutions to ease the problem between you and the mean person.

Detach From The Situation

Even if it seems pretty tough to anyone here, this unpleasant situation could honestly be made better when you keep yourself calm in the moment. It is your duty to treat this situation with a different perspective rather than dealing with the same flow. Try not reacting by showing your extreme emotions like anger or crying. If you react, it will only make them feel better.

Learn Empathy

Empathy is the ability to step into someone else’s shoes and understand their situation and how they feel. This powerful attribute is rare today but if you start practicing it, you may be the problem solver for so many people around you. Mean people could be facing their own problems which doesn’t let them understand how others feel around them. You will be able to reduce hostility of others when you deal with empathy.

Try Mindful Breathing

When you inhale and exhale methodically and in a proper way, you take care of yourself in much better ways. Mean people often trigger fight or flight response and they want you to act in a manner that they want. However, you should know that when you are in a panic state, you start breathing very quickly and the speed increases. A good mindful breathing can keep your state of mind relaxed and even make you stress free.

Give Proper Attention To Body Language

Your body language speaks more than your words and understand that mean people can easily walk over your negative body language. For example, you have kept your arms folded and changed the way you usually keep your shoulder, they feel that they are holding power in this particular situation. Moreover, they will even try to do things which encourage you to look more annoyed and irritated.

Instead you can choose to stand up straight, make proper eye contact and keep some good physical distance for your own developed body language. When you show a good confidence upfront, it makes a huge difference in the way interaction or communication takes place.

Practice Listening

Listening is another art which is very uncommon around people nowadays. Most of the people just love interrupting in between the discussion and put their point before anyone else. But the real key of dealing with anyone, be it mean or not, is to listen and observe very patiently. Only then you should reflect on the ideas of someone else.

Actively Engage With Mean People

Does it sound very counterintuitive? Well, there are plenty of reasons why you should avoid engaging with mean people but try this. We are not telling you to go and find new people who are mean out there but don’t feel shy when you are in actual conversation with them. The more experience you have with mean human beings, the better you are able to respond to tough situations.

Swap Negativity For Positivity

Instead of getting consumed in the negativity which is being spread by someone else, it becomes your responsibility to swap it to the positive side. It might take some time to make the changes but it is possible if you take the right steps for it. Make sure that you write affirmations or keep writing gratitude journals from time to time so that your thoughts and vibes come in a positive direction. Focus on what is good in your life and it keeps anxiety off the track.

Revenge Is Not The Answer

You might be planning revenge against those who have hurt you and there could be definitely new scenarios in your mind. But do you realize that taking revenge is just not the right answer. Revenge doesn’t complete up things but make things only worse for a longer run. If this negative energy keeps feeding you then you destroy your own path only. Rather choose to sweat in the gym or watch a good movie! Liked the idea?

Stay Factual With Them

People who wish to bother you will always find unrelated history and excuses for your experiences. They would want to go ahead with a huge argument and do not budge to stay within the point. Even if you want to revert and retaliate, you might end up getting sucked into the system. How you can tackle it is by controlling your emotions at that particular moment and sticking to the facts. Even if they try to get into meaningless discussions, don’t get involved in them. In case you need to indulge, set a time limit and express your side clearly too.

Be The Change

Be the change you wish to see in the world’ stands as a right quote because it holds true when you are dealing with mean people. Rather than being completely ignorant, show the person that you care about the reasons why this person is acting weird with you. Try putting down all the weapons and break the ice for once. You never know you can encounter someone better behind the mean behavior and even the reasons the person is behaving in such a manner. Take time for them and offer them a few words of encouragement. You might become a change for them and can even turn their mood around.

Focus On Yourself

You know that you are strong and confident to deal with such people in your life. Remember, a cooler head always prevails so let others flip it off. It is necessary that you focus on yourself , work to improve your aura, learn how not to repeat the same mess again and balance out this thing with your good deeds in everyday routine. In case you are not able to handle it alone, don’t hesitate to call a mediator to consider your wellbeing.

Wrap Up

We hope that you have actually found out ways to deal with mean people in your life and you will be able to keep all the mean people off your life. It is definitely not a piece of cake to deal with people who are just way too mean. Moreover, you need to be very patient with the process because it could be just impossible. Have you tried dealing with them through some other way? Share your recommendations and views with us in the comments below. Also, share this blog with your friends, family members and others so that they are also capable of keeping toxic people aside and shine bright like a diamond.