METRO DETROIT (WXYZ) — Spending time with family around Thanksgiving can give way to some cherished memories, but it can also usher in some difficult and uncomfortable conversations with some family members who may not see eye-to-eye.
Holidays are a time for a lot of mixed feelings, including excitement for yearly tradition.
“Go deer hunting, family would come in for dinner and then we’d go back out deer hunting," one Metro Detroit man told me.
And there may even be some anticipation of tense conversation coming up.
"Politics, hot rods," another Metro Detroiter said on what he's looking forward to talking about with family.
As we exit this election year, Shannon Bruin, a licensed social worker, says she has encountered a lot of people concerned over how to navigate difficult conversation topics like politics.
Her biggest observation- many people are walking into the holidays expecting conflict.
“If we can just sort of shift our expectations and our goal here to remember what we are trying to do here we can come a little bit lighter and with some better maybe expectations," Shannon said.
With the year our country experienced politically, there might be some tension. But Shannon says it’s important to acknowledge that it’s okay for others to have differing viewpoints.
“We can say things like ‘I never thought about it that way.’ And we can build some trust and respect in those relationships by just having those positive responses and listening," Meghan said. "We don’t have to provide our opinion and we don’t have to agree or disagree.”
And you don’t have to feel obligated to engage in a conversation that might make you uncomfortable.
“We can usually navigate our way out of those conversations by just being curious and then changing the topic, or refilling your drink, or checking the lions score," Shannon said.
Shannon says boundaries are important to uphold, but when you express them, you don’t have to go nuclear.
“Simple sentences lkie ‘I don’t want to talk about that right now,’ or ‘ can we talk about something else?’ ar very general, healthy sentences that are not likely to offend anyone but also make your boundary clear that this makes me feel uncomfortable and this isn’t something that feels safe to me without really having to use those words," Shannon said.
