How to Deal with Difficult People (part 1)

By Shaunti Feldhahn and Laurie Davies

This week’s blog is jointly written by both me and my lead editor, Laurie Davies. She is one of the kindest people I know, even when—especially when—it is challenging. So, I wanted to include her insight this week on how to deal with difficult people.

 It’s easy to go dancing through the daisies with nice people. We like those who are enjoyable, agreeable, and pleasant. In fact, let’s just cancel all the difficult people in our lives and hang out only with kind people. (And that, friends, is as close as we will ever get to writing an April Fool’s Day blog.)

No, today, the challenge is to think bigger. Let’s look at the importance of being kind to difficult people, and why. (Hint: God’s kindness leads us to repentance; Romans 2:4). Not every reader embraces a Christian faith perspective, but as we’ll illustrate below, the principle holds true. Kindness does bring change—even if it’s “just” in us.

Being kind to difficult people is just so dang hard. But as emphasized in The Kindness Challenge, when people get under our skin, that’s the precise moment that kindness matters most. Here are a few ideas on how to deal with difficult people.