How to Deal with Mean Girls

Whether it’s at school, at work or in your social circle, the unfortunate truth is that there are mean girls (and guys) all over this planet. These people can make or break your day, turn a good thing into something depressing or just make you self-conscious to the point that it interferes with your happiness. I personally have no time to expend on bullies, so here are a few of my tips to deal with mean girls.

Break Up With Them
My first suggestion in dealing with a mean girl is to just simply break up with them. I know it sounds heartless, but if there’s negative energy in your life you just need to get rid of it. Unfollow them on Instagram, hide their posts on Facebook and/or try your hardest to avoid them at all costs. Sometimes, like in a work scenario, this just isn’t realistic, but if it’s a personal relationship it should be fairly easy to cut ties. Just make it casual and don’t gossip with others about it – that will just fuel the fire.

Smile and Nod
Many times, people act a certain way just to get specific reactions. If they don’t get what they want enough, they’ll eventually give up. So when someone is being mean, don’t show any outward signs of it affecting you at all. It shouldn’t affect you, you’re above it, so act like you never noticed it to begin with. If you have to, kill them with kindness. Trust me, I know how hard it is to be nice to someone who’s anything but nice to you, but sometimes it’s best to be the bigger person.

Talk it Out
If worse comes to worst and they’re interfering with your own life, your happiness, you may need to stand up and say something. I tend to avoid this at all costs, but that’s just because confrontation is not one of my strengths. However, if I was giving advice to a friend, I’d tell them to sit the mean girl down (privately) and (calmly) ask if there is something that was said or done that offended the mean girl. The worst that can happen is that the person becomes even meaner in which case you just repeat the first two steps.

Be Confident, Be You
Most of the time, a mean spirit comes from some sort of insecurity. The way to combat that is to remain confident and continue being yourself. It’s not your personality or who you are that makes this person act a certain way, it’s all on them. If you are given the chance to boost that person’s own confidence (in an authentic way), do it! It might turn their attitude around.

Sadly, mean girls aren’t going anywhere – unless we begin to teach our own children just how wrong it is to treat others poorly. It also begins with us. I don’t know a single person who has never had to deal with a mean person in their life, therefore we all know how bad it feels. Always treat people how you would want to be treated. It’s a simple rule!

What have you done to solve the mean girl problem in the past? Share your tips below!