Dealing with a drama queen in your life can be a challenging and stressful experience. Whether it's a friend, family member, or coworker, their constant need for attention and tendency to create chaos can be overwhelming. However, it's important to learn how to manage these individuals in a healthy and productive way, without sacrificing your own well-being. In this article, we will explore eight effective ways to deal with a drama queen in your life, from setting boundaries and communicating effectively to practicing self-care and avoiding getting caught up in their drama. By implementing these strategies, you can learn to navigate your relationships with high-drama individuals and maintain your own peace and sanity.
# Keep them calmDrama queens tend to go off and get really worked up about a situation that isn’t a big deal at all. In order to deal with them you have to calm them down whenever you can.
Ask them to stop talking for a minute and just breathe before they explain what happened to you. This gives them an opportunity to slow their breathing and panic rate so they won’t come off as super dramatic and annoy you.
# Ignore their dramaA drama queen looks for attention from any source they can get it. If the drama queen in your life approaches you with a ridiculous story so beyond dramatic it couldn’t possibly be true, ignore it.
Stop fueling their fire so they begin to learn being dramatic—no matter what the situation—won’t get them attention. This slowly teaches them that a dramatic episode won’t give them the attention they desire and they’ll stop.
# Console whenever neededDrama queens have a hard time differentiating when something is a big deal and when they’re getting upset for NO reason.
When there is a situation that is actually serious, be there to counsel them and get them through it without having them throw a huge fit about it. Make sure to keep your own composure so they can’t feed off of your reaction either.
# Do not start any gossip
Drama queens love their gossip. It fuels their dramatic fire and allows them to steal the limelight from the people they’re actually gossiping about.
In order to deal with a drama queen like this in your life, don’t listen to the gossip. Never ask them any details about the stuff they gossip about and just ignore it when you can. They can’t be dramatic if you’re not interested.
# Listen to their childhood storiesAs much as you might not want to fuel the fire driving their dramatic behavior, talking to them about their childhood might have the opposite effects. Most people who tend to be dramatic had a childhood where they didn’t get any attention.
By having them talk about it, it helps them work through these issues and see how their dramatic behavior could stem from their childhood. It shouldn’t affect the way they live today.
# Show your care
This also helps with the fact they had a childhood where they weren’t really cared about. By reinforcing the love you have for them as your friend, they feel like they don’t have to work as hard for your attention, halting their dramatic behavior around you.
# Don't pay attention to what they feel
When they come to you in
tears and are freaking out over what happened to them that day, make
sure you don’t pay attention to what they say they FEEL.
Have
them tell you exactly WHAT happened. By making them say it out loud
helps them to see the situation really isn’t that big of a deal, and
they don’t need to be so dramatic about it. Just be sure you’ve calmed
them down first.
# Stay gentle to them
Drama queens are people who have been hurt in their past and just don’t understand that they’re being dramatic. To them, the things they’re making a big deal about really are a big deal.
They don’t have the ability to know the difference and can be extra hurt if you lash out because you’re annoyed with their behavior. The best way to deal with having a drama queen in your life is to be gentle with how you react to their dramatic ways.