Let it Go, Let it Flow: 7 People You Should Pick Your Battles With

Your in-laws

Just like your parents, they are a vast well of information that is willing to spill over you when you don’t ask for their opinion. As much as you would like to think that when you marry that “special” someone that the two of you are going to start your “special” lives together, just the “special” two of you. However, your new spouse comes with a brood of family members. Sometimes these members can be easy to handle, and other times they’re not. However, once you say “I do,” they come as a package deal; even more so if there are children are in the mix (meaning that even if you and that “special” person divorce, they are still your child’s family, and you’ll be tied to them for the rest of your child’s life). To help deal, just look at their intentions. These people knew your spouse YEARS before you, so they’ve seen the good, the bad, and the adolescently awkward. Even though people are different with their families than they are with their mates, it’s good to have background information to fill in those blank holes that motivate your spouse to behave the way that he/she does. So, no matter how frustrated you might get with one of them who always seem to be prying into your personal life, or trying to dictate how you should behave with your new spouse, telling them off might not feel as liberating when you have to go to a family reunion with the same people you verbally spanked.