So, how do you handle pushy family members?

Stay away from them as much as possible...

:smow:

 

By doing what they tell me to do, and staying away from them if I can.

Sometimes I stand up to them if they push me past my limits, and it's never pretty. Because I suck at standing up to people, and it only encourages them to crush me like a bug.

 

i just keep quietly asserting myself and eventually they come around.

(or sometimes they don't, and i tell them to push off.)

 

Distance

 

Depends what they are pushy about.

I have several extremely pushy family members. When they are trying to impose their own beliefs and values on me, I usually take very firm standing that I have nothing against hearing their side but what I'll think or believe in is my own thing. When they are blatantly disregarding my habits or needs I break my usually silent demeanor and demand respect, and most but not least learning to say no is very helpful because family members sometimes think that if you are family that means that you have to step in and do favors as they need them whether that suits you at the moment or not.

Other than that, my usual approach to resolving difficult family situations is having silent but firm attitude.

Yea, and as Billy said, distance. It is never big enough for some family members.

 

Well, in my case... the decision isn't exactly mine. You see, I have to live with and work for a pushy family member. That gives them a lot of control over my life, especially in this economy.

It sucks, but it's better than being unemployed.

Anyway, it's important to have strategies for submitting to other people outwardly without sacrificing yourself internally. We'll all encounter pushy people that we'll be forced to accommodate in our lives at some point.

 

What pushy family members? They are all INFJ.

 

Ignore them.

I have a very pushy mother (ESFJ)
Who pushes me to do everything, except for the things I like doing.
I'm just glad that shes out of the house most of the time, although I do worry about the psychological effect its having on my younger siblings.

 

Rise to the challenge with playful intentions.
I have an aunt who is pretty pushy and always asking me when I'm going to get married and have kids and other such things.. and I like to playfully horrify her with my actual thoughts and feelings about those topics until she changes the subject.

 

I tell them to get lost until they can be a little more respectful and a lot less pushy.

There is always one of two possible outcomes - they either never talk to me again, or they get the hint and learn to be less abrasive around me. There's little justification for that kind of behaviour no matter who you are.