Emotions in Conflict

For me emotions are common in conflict.  I have different emotions towards different people in different settings. Most of the time my conflict is with my family. The next would be conflict with friends and the last would be at work.

The conflict with my family are usually with me and my dad. We do not always agree on things and who they should be done. Most of the time we end up really upset with one another and don’t talk for a while. One of the big disagreements that we have had was about where I was going to go to college. I wanted to get out and he wanted me to stay. I felt that he wasn’t listening and he said he was. The most common emotions I had during this time was anger, frustration, vulnerability and a bit of sadness. I was anger with him because I felt like I didn’t have a say about my future. I was frustrated because I just wanted to be heard. He told me how he felt and how he wanted me to stay home for a year or two and then transfer. I told him that that was not going to work but that I would take it into consideration. I was sad because he was listening to me but not understanding why I wanted to move away. Eventually everything got better we worked it out, and he is happy that I left.

Another conflict with my family would be with my mom. I really wanted to a church leadership conference with my friend. I was all set to go, when she told she was worried about me going. I told her everything would be fine but she would not take that as an answer. Finally I had to give her an itinerary of what we were going to do. I also had to tell her when I got there and when I left to go home. I felt like I wasn’t being trusted even though I have not given her a reason not to.  In the end it all worked out and I had a good time at the conference.

A conflict that I had with a good friend was mostly about miscommunication. I told her that I was going to be late to a birthday party we were invited to. I had to be at another function before I could make it to that one. I told her she didn’t have to be there on time because she wouldn’t know very many people. She forgot that I had another function that day and got upset with me when I didn’t show up on time. I tried to tell her over the phone that I reminded her that I was going to be late. Once I got there I had a chance to explain myself even though it wasn’t my fault and that I reminded her I was going to be late. It all worked out once she gave me the chance to explain and that it was all just a misunderstanding.

   The last conflict I am going to talk about is in a work setting. I was catering for a family member. Everyone was giving me a different task to do at different times while I was trying to finish the other task given. When I would try to say I’ll help you once I am done with this job they would interrupt me and say that I needed to help them at that very moment. Finally I had enough. My supervisor came over to me and asked why I looked for frazzled and I told her what was going on and how when I tried to explain things to my coworkers about how I had to do this before that. It all worked out in the end and the event we were helping at turned out just fine.