Crunch!

I was just thinking about the phrase "walking on eggshells" as it relates to a coworker. Strangely, I seem to have 1 coworker, and 1 relative who I am constantly on the verge of pissing off (and vice versa). It's a strange phrase... why would you walk on an eggshell? Who's making omelets, and why wasn't I offered one? I like to use the phrase "walking on thin ice". It's much more likely a scenario, and while unadvised it may occasionally be unavoidable.

In the case of the coworker, it's someone I quite enjoy being around so when the pissing off occurs it makes it that much more painful and messy. For the relative, it's someone higher than me in the familiar hierarchy on my wife's side who has always had copious disdain for me, and at this point I am convinced is the anti-Christ. Well if not actually the anti-Christ, then a close cousin.

In both cases, I am somewhat forced to be around these people. One, a work contract mandates it and the other is related to me (on paper). So the question is: is it possible to be comfortable around someone if the thin ice is always crackling at your feet? On the surface (he he... ice, surface) it's an easy answer. Unfortunately when you are forced into the relationships through love, life, or employment - you have to make your own way. I NEED to find comfort in these situations, but still I find myself ill at ease - and rightfully so.

I'm afraid the answer is to pull back. To hide the aspects of my personality that make the ice crackle, but I feel are part of my core. If I pull back, people notice it... but they don't have any reason to be hypersensitive. I guess it's all about learning what works with which people. (Say those last 5 words three times fast.)