Don’t Let Your Colleagues Turn You Into Someone Else

There are so many rules regarding behavior at the workplace that sometimes it’s difficult to know just how to act. We’re told to be ourselves, but also told not to say or do anything that would upset a coworker. And let’s face it, there is always a coworker in your office who is more than happy to become upset by something: a comment about religion or remark about the Yankees or simply rolling your eyes at the mention of the presidential election. Some of your colleagues just can’t wait to be offended.

Though you shouldn’t allow others to impede your personality at work—especially the chronic complainers—it is important to be considerate of your colleagues. However, it is also important to be genuine and candid about your true self. Faking who you are will make you crazy.  Faking who you are will make you unrecognizable to yourself. Even worse, it could turn you into a passive-aggressive colleague.

This article elaborates, “Co-workers who exhibit passive-aggressive behavior normally have a reason that they refuse to speak their mind about their problems in the first place. Whether it’s a feeling of insecurity or a fear of confrontation, this reaction shows that your co-worker or angry or frustrated and just having a hard time communicating that fact. Often, the more openly hostile you are to a passive-aggressive co-worker, the more threatened they’ll feel. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that if an insecure person feels even more threatened, you’ll have to start dealing with even more passive-aggressive behavior.”

Passive-aggressive office professionals are suffering from emotional paralysis by political correctness. When people no longer feel they can openly express themselves, they swallow those thoughts and internalize them, only to have them come out in negative ways and forms of behavior. Is this you or someone you know?

Photo courtesy of vmiramontes.