Sanity-Saving Strategies
By Martha Beck
Strategy #1: Give Up Hope.
Before you meet your relatives this season, take a few moments to sit
quietly and acknowledge what you wish they were like. Then prepare to accept
them even if they behave as they have always done in the past. At best, you may
be surprised to find that they actually are changing, that some of your wishes
have come true. At worst, you'll feel regrettably detached from your kinfolk as
you watch them play out their usual psychoses.
From the December 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine