How To Stay Calm When Someone Is Provoking You?

We may earn commissions for purchases made through links on our site. Learn more on our about us page.

People will come into your life that aren’t fun to have around. They will provoke you and try to get you to react to what they are saying. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do about these people to get them out of your life, and you just have to deal with them.

But constantly rising to their provocations can cause a problem for you, so it is important to learn to stay calm and be better when they are around to prevent issues.

Staying calm can also make them look bad and allow you to collect evidence to get them away from you, such as being moved to a different shift at work or in a different class.

How to Prevent it From Happening?

Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent provocation from happening. There are just certain people in the world that enjoy getting a rise from others. They may choose you for a variety of reasons.

You may look like you are easy to anger or won’t fight back. It could be because of your job or because of your gender. You may even just remind them of someone they used to know, and that hurt them. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell unless they specifically tell you.

While you can’t prevent it from happening, you can work to prevent it from getting a reaction out of you. Learning to stay calm in these situations can reduce the provocation or make it less affect your life.

 

Things That Can Help You Stay Calm

There are several things you can do to help you stay calm. There are even classes and specific teachings on it, as people like police officers have to be able to handle provocation without reacting poorly.

 

• Always keep in mind that reactions are what they want out of you. They want you to get angry and lose your temper or say or do something that will make you look like a bad guy.
• You have to learn to control your own emotions. If you let your emotions get the better of you, you are just going to give them exactly what they want.
• Learn what triggers you. Maybe you lose your cool every time someone talks badly about your mother or when your children are brought up. Know what is likely to set you off and how to control yourself from lashing out automatically.
• Know that by staying calm, they look like a bad person. To get a rise out of you, they will often speak louder, ruder, or do more rash things to try and provoke you if you don’t react. Eventually, someone will realize what they are doing is horrible.

 

How Can You Control Yourself?

To control yourself, you have to be in control of your emotions. If you are someone who reacts quickly when you are irritated or upset or lets your emotions get the better, people will provoke you every time, especially once they figure out your trigger.

You will have to work to be calmer and control your emotions. Understand what causes you to get angry, and analyze the deeper reason. For example, if you react to being left out of conversations or discussions, is it because you often felt left out as a child?

Learning to control your emotions usually provides you with a better insight into yourself and provides a way for you to heal. And you will be less likely to react to provocations.

 

What Do You Need to Avoid Doing?

Avoid doing anything rashly or without thinking about it at the moment. Of course, there are times when it is necessary to react to situations, but you need to be fully aware of what you are doing and the consequences of your doing it.

If you just react without a thought, it will almost always end up bad for you. So instead, focus on taking a moment or two to think about the situation and if it is worth dying on that hill or if it is better to let this one go without a comment.

While you may want to react at the moment, it is better to take five seconds to cool down. Then, figure out why you are angry. Is it only because of what the other person did, or is it because it is a sensitive situation for you?

It is also a good idea to vent to someone you trust, but make sure it is actually venting and someone you can trust, not just complaining to everyone who will listen. This makes you look bad and will often get back to people you don’t want it to.

 

Should You Respond to Provocations at all?

If you are unable to respond in a calm and detached manner, it is best not to react. Unfortunately, that may mean you just have to walk off or do your best to ignore someone.

If you are going to only respond in kind or anger, you will do nothing but fan the flames of the situation and give the other person exactly what they want.

If you can stay calm, and avoid losing your temper, control, or getting defensive, then you can respond. It may irritate the other person to see you can respond calmly and may end up provoking them instead of you. But you have to be honest with yourself.

 

Final Thoughts on How To Stay Calm When Someone Is Provoking You 

It can make you feel weak or pathetic not to respond to provocations, but it can make you a stronger person. It is easy to react with anger or a temper or to lose control when someone upsets you.

However, it is much harder to respond with a calm mind or not respond at all when someone is provoking you. People don’t provoke without expecting to get a response from you, and what they want is a negative response that will confirm their beliefs or make you look bad.

If you don’t react or stay calm, you leave them with nothing and stop them from getting what they want.

Leave a comment