I typically avoid conflict to keep
from having ugly conversations. I m in an unhappy relationship, and it s clearly not fixable. I always rely on the other person to end a relationship, even when it s making me really miserable. Why do I do this, and how do I change? Pixabay Stuck Girl Note that fighter planes have an ejection seat and not a go down in a flaming wreck seat. Fighter plane seat design is a helpful model for relationships that have run their course. Facts don t change because you refuse to acknowledge their existence. Your approach which I ll call nonfrontational is particularly counterproductive. Clinical psychologist Randy Paterson calls this a passive style of responding to conflict, driven by a goal of avoiding conflict at all costs. In fact, what you end up avoiding is not conflict but temporary emotional turbulence the queasyfraidyanxiousness t