I’ve never been a very confrontational person. I prefer sulking and passive-aggressive snarking to out and out telling someone off. Any attempt to “get up in someone’s grill” usually leads to a mild sputtering and a red face on my part. Even just thinking about it makes me want to throw up.
It took me a long time before I was comfortable with talking to strangers on the phone or making small talk with strangers on the bus. Confrontation is ten steps above that and makes me break out into a rash.
But lately, I’ve been able to actually deal with issues that require slightly more backbone. For example, after repeatedly being woken up by our upstairs neighbor’s partying, I marched upstairs at 3am and snippily told them that they were making it hard for me to sleep and marched back downstairs. And they stopped making noise! After I said something! That still astonishes me.
And it doesn’t sound like much, but I consider it a major skirmish and one that I won no less!
And the other day, Emily and I were cornered by a scam artist who I’ve seen downtown before peddling different sob stories. Instead of doing my usual, “Oh…no…sorry….no…change” mumbling as I walked away, I called her out and we walked away.
A year or so ago, I never would have done that. I’m finally starting to stand up to situations that I otherwise would have crept away from or ignored hoping they would go away.
I think, in some small ways, I’m turning into a grown-up. Maybe.
Dylan Charles
dylancharles.net 
you’re talking about the girl on crutches with the lips tattoo, aren’t you DCharles?
Yea! I’m still not there.