Stress Management For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 14

Reducing Interpersonal Stress

In This Chapter

Communicating more effectively

Developing assertiveness

Dealing with difficult people

Your relationships and interactions with others can be a major source of joy and satisfaction. Unfortunately, your involvement with others can also be a major source of stress. Whenever you ask people where most of their stress comes from, they almost always answer “other people.” The “others” may be family members, people at work, or just some incredibly rude so-and-so who is giving you a hard time, because he or she got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. And unless you’re hiding in a cabin in rural Montana, it’s likely that you may run into someone very soon who will try to push your stress button.

Minimizing your interpersonal stress means having the tools, strategies, and tactics that allow you to navigate the prickly world of other people. This chapter shows you how you can make your interactions and involvement with others far more satisfying and certainly far less stressful.

Developing Stress-Reducing Communication

Your ability to communicate affects your relationships with family, friends, co-workers, bosses, clients — ...