“Drama does not just walk into your life. Either you create it, invite it, or associate with it.” – Unknown
Drama demands attention. It’s a way of making a person, an action or a thing seem more important than it is. Drama exists in all facets of our lives, and not many can admit to living completely free of it.
Our best tool for drama is understanding our role in and doing things to help reduce the impact of it on our life.
Do you want to reduce the drama in your life?
Here are ten ways you can get rid of drama in two shakes of “whatever”:
1 – React Responsibly
Drama usually starts with a reaction to an action. Recognize how your reactions to other people’s actions might be causing drama. Focus instead on how important the action is to your life. Does it really matter in the long run? Chances are it doesn’t, so react appropriately.
2 – Contribute to Real Conversations
Gossip happens, and nothing good comes from it. Talking about other people and their latest drama will only bring more drama into your life.
If you look at your relationships, you can probably figure out which ones thrive on gossip. Stop feeding the gossip and start conversations based on mutual interests. If you can find a topic and the only thing you have to talk about is the latest gossip, this relationship might not be right for you.
3 – Put Things Into Perspective
When we are in the middle of a drama, it is natural to look at things from our personal perspective. The problem is that our personal perspective has the world revolving around us.
It is important to remember that other people rarely do things because of us or to us. Instead, it is almost always about them. Start looking at the situation through their eyes and try to understand things from their perspective.
4 – Be More Optimistic
When you are surrounded by drama, it is easy to get caught up in all the negative thought patterns that are swirling around you. The more you remain in that negative space, the more your thoughts reflect the negativity. Start questioning your negative thoughts and start re-framing them into a more optimistic viewpoint.
5 – Communicate Honestly
It is not uncommon to remain silent when in dramatic situations in order to not fuel the fire. Remaining silent serves no one. You, most likely, will end up leaving with a bad taste in your mouth and the others involved will have missed an opportunity to learn from a different perspective. Start sharing your thoughts and perspectives in the hopes of shedding some light on the situation.
6 – Be Compassionate
Sharing your thoughts can easily turn into preaching if not careful. It is one thing to express your point of view but avoid trying to convince others to adopt your point of view.
You can’t change someone’s mind, they have to be willing to do that themselves. Try understanding what the other people are experiencing and know their journey is different from yours. When you understand the stories behind the people, accepting them for who they are is a lot easier.
7 – Control Only What You Can
Strong-willed, confident people want to fix everything, even when they know that not everything is fixable. When you insert your will and try to control a situation that isn’t within your control, you will often end up making the situation worse, instead of better. Focus on the things you can control in the situation, like your reactions and your responses.
8 – Look for the Lessons
Sometimes it seems like our life is full of drama. Drama at home, at work and even when you are out having fun. It’s almost as if it is possible to escape it. Instead of focusing on reducing the drama, embrace it for its lessons. How you handle drama will strengthen your resolve during all challenges, especially the ones that matter. So instead of getting frustrated at the drama, try learning from it.
9 – Act How You Want to Feel
So much of how you respond in difficult situations comes from how we are feeling at the moment. It is hard to avoid how we feel because it is the basis of our existence. Instead of acting based on your feelings at the moment, take a few seconds and think about how you would rather feel and proceed with those feelings in mind.
10 – Let it Go
When we encounter drama and difficult situations, it can be hard to separate ourselves from all the influence and thought. We continue to think about it, think of better things we could have said and different ways of reacting.
It is easy to hold on to the drama and let it infiltrate other areas of our life. Be conscious about its effect on you and begin to make the choice to let it go. Focus your attention on something that serves you better because let’s face it, drama is everywhere, and it is almost impossible to avoid completely. Our only choice is to be aware of our part in it and do what we can to reduce it.
Add to the discussion below: How do you reduce drama in your life?
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