Holidays can be very interesting. Sometimes they bring out the best in people… and sometimes they bring out the worst. For some, the holidays can be very painful. For others, it’s a time of great joy. You may be entering a warm, inviting atmosphere for the holidays, or something more closely resembling a bloody battleground.

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, it’s important to go into this day equipped with a strategy for a peaceful, harmonious, joyful time with your friends and family, no matter what kind of environment you might walk into.

Some people you may encounter this week (and throughout the holiday season) could fall into one of these seven categories:

• The one-upper, who must always prove they’re better than everyone else;
• The gossiper, who invites you in with juicy gossip about other friends or family members;
• The reminder of your past failures, who just can’t let you forget how you screwed up back in 1982;
• The joker, who is always cracking jokes at someone else’s expense;
• The bully, who intimidates, manipulates and controls you – and everyone else;
• The arguer, who contests everything anyone says;
• The sulker, who sucks the life and energy out of the room.

So, what do you do with all of these people?! How do you deal with them? With people like this present, how do you create a warm, inviting, harmonious environment, full of love and laughter?

1. Prepare yourself. You know who is in your family and your circle of friends. You know the issues you commonly deal with. You know if you have “the gossiper” or “the arguer” in your circle, so you won’t be surprised or caught off-guard when they come up and say, “Psssst, did you hear about Sally?!” or when they start arguing with you about every little thing. Choose to prepare yourself for the people and situations you will encounter.
2. Forgive! Before you even get into the holidays, search your own heart and see who you need to forgive. Are you holding onto any bitterness or resentment against anyone? This totally skews your perception of people and causes you to think, act and speak negatively toward them, which then causes even more problems! Choose to forgive, release and bless them.
3. Bring peace wherever you go. Although so much hostility fills the world today, you can actually bring peace into your family, circle of friends and everywhere else you go this Thanksgiving. Everyone wants peace. In fact, they desperately search for peace. Choose to be a peacemaker.
4. Make people feel special and important. After decades of working with people from every background, age, race and religion, there’s one thing I’ve noticed. Everyone wants to feel special and important. Every single person on this planet deeply longs to feel loved and special. And you can do this in so many ways. Get the person talking about themselves by asking questions: “How’s your family? How was Timmy’s football game? How is work going? What are you doing for fun these days?” It doesn’t have to be too deep… just a conversation! People feel special and important when someone takes an interest in their life. Choose to focus on someone else.
5. Don’t be afraid to be different. One of the most powerful things about identifying these people (the bully, the sulker, etc.) is, you can choose to be different! You can’t change other people, but you can change how you relate to people. Don’t give in to the gossip, the arguments, the intimidation they may bring to you. Choose not to be provoked; choose to love instead!

I pray these steps help prepare you for whatever you will face this Thanksgiving. In reality, these steps can be used all year to help you deal with people better.

I would love to know your thoughts on The Daily Fix today. Do you face any of “those people” in your life? How do you deal with them – or dealt with them in the past? Let me know in the comments below!

And please remember to tune in for our weekly Spiritual Equipping episode of The Dani Johnson Show today for more biblical insights and inspiration. You can find the show on your TV and radio and please remember you can always stream today’s show right here on our website.

In great faith,

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