I am unlucky enough to have grown up with a very passive-aggressive family. It made me at least a little maladjusted to dealing with people in "the real world," so to speak. I used to catch myself thinking people were making back-handed comments to me or subtly trying to make fun of me in completely normal social settings. I've since learned to "lighten up" in that most people, even if they are "busting balls," will do it in a way that is very obviously a joke. Unlike my family who would hurl legitimate insults at me and then the moment I began to defend myself would tell me, "We are just joking, RELAX!" Always turning it back on me. The problem was, they were not joking.
Passive-aggressive behaviors are not always as obvious as people think either. It's easy to list them in a thread on a forum like this and say, "These things are passive-aggressive" but sometimes it can be legitimately difficult to recognize them in real life and confront them. Sometimes, it can be hard to be assertive with someone who is passive-aggressive because they will take any sign of assertiveness as a threat and tell you that you're overreacting or being unruly or unreasonable. Yet another tactic of the passive-aggressive.
Passive-aggressive behaviors are not always as obvious as people think either. It's easy to list them in a thread on a forum like this and say, "These things are passive-aggressive" but sometimes it can be legitimately difficult to recognize them in real life and confront them. Sometimes, it can be hard to be assertive with someone who is passive-aggressive because they will take any sign of assertiveness as a threat and tell you that you're overreacting or being unruly or unreasonable. Yet another tactic of the passive-aggressive.
If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth.
