Difficult Relationships – Christian Wisdom for Life’s Toughest Ties
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Do you ever wonder why your relationships start out great but then turn into a confusing, one-sided mess that leaves you scratching your head and wondering Why do I ALWAYS attract these people?
Maybe you even feel torn between the desire to see it through and the urge to run for the hills.
Today, I’m going to explain in detail why your greatest life strength is likely your worst relationship weakness AND give you the three steps needed to stop being taken advantage of by these parasitic, freeloaders.
Understanding this one problem will help you recognize why your relationships aren’t as mutually beneficial as you’d hoped.
So what is it?
It’s being solution-oriented, better known as problem-solving.
You may be thinking, Kris, that’s a great quality to have. How could it possibly cause such a problem?
I get it. As a solution-oriented person myself, I don’t like to waste time blaming others or wallowing in self-pity. If you’re anything like me, you don’t crumble under pressure—you get things done!
And that is an amazing quality that many people will be drawn to. Including toxic, dependent, leeching, narcissists.
Are you seeing the problem?
While problem solving is an amazing quality, hen it comes to relationships, your ‘solution’ focus can actually BE the problem.
You have a God-given gift of knowing what to do in each situation. And you likely derive joy in helping others solve their problems. But that’s where the true problem comes in—when you find yourself solving the same problems for the same people, and that incredible strength that you once felt so good about now has made you feel used.
Your relationships aren’t mutually beneficial, and it’s draining the life out of you.
Your solution-seeking gift is attracting nothing but problem-oriented people like a magnet.
Why? Because, the dynamic works perfectly together. Solution-oriented people don’t feel alive unless they are solving problems, so it makes sense that they would be drawn to people who need help.
And of course the problem-oriented person would be attracted to the solution-seeking person because well, they need solutions.
But the bigger problem is they only want your solutions in theory. They have no interest in using your divine wisdom to pull themselves out of the rut—they expect you to do that. They have no interest in being responsible for their own success—they’ll rely on you for that.
And because it’s impossible for you to play that role for long, ultimately you are seen as the problem. Yett because solutions are what you do best, you stay in the trenches until 5, 10, or 20 years go by and you’ve wasted your precious gift on someone who squandered it.
At this point, you’re probably wondering if you’ve got to squash your solution superpower. The answer is, absolutely not! We need you problem solvers.
But if you do want to flourish in mutually beneficial relationships, you are going to want to harness that strength of yours.
Here’s how: