I have had my fair share of experiences dealing with difficult people.
I have worked in the world, been raised in the world, and learned many of the same lessons you have. My experiences may be different from yours, but all of us eventually encounter difficult people. We learn what it means to work with them, live with them, be friends with them, and even love them.
There comes a time when we must learn to stand up for ourselves.
But standing up for ourselves is not done well from the same level as the difficulty we are facing.
It is not done through reaction.
It is not done through anger.
It is not done by meeting chaos with more chaos.
It is done by rising above it.
The first question we must ask ourselves is:
To whom am I reacting?
When we answer honestly, with discipline and accountability, the answer is ourselves.
Always.
No matter what has happened to us, what we are experiencing is still our experience.
That is what we are responding to.
The situation may be external, but the reaction begins within.
When we allow that first reaction to pass, when we practice discipline, something deeper within us begins to speak. A clearer voice emerges and shows us how to handle what is in front of us.
Sometimes courage looks like telling a coworker, “Please stop interrupting me so I can finish my thought.”
Sometimes courage looks like standing up for someone else when they do not yet have the strength to stand up for themselves.
Sometimes courage is simply refusing to become the very thing that hurt you.
Whatever the moment requires, let the initial reaction pass.
Because that first reaction is often the least disciplined, the least thoughtful, and the most likely to create harm.
Let it pass.
Learn to stand in courage.
Learn to speak with intention.
Learn to respond from strength rather than impulse.
Discipline your first reaction, and you will discover a place within yourself where true courage lives.
Stand where others are unwilling to stand:
In courage.
In strength.
In discipline.
Vachon Imagined 
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