I get all sorts of stresses in life, and I can deal with most of them
very well, but when it comes to human relationships, there are way too
many unknowns. I realized this years ago, but just sort of accepted
the fact that I would always be confused by them.

Though recently I have been surprised at how much peace I get from
speaking my mind and telling the other person exactly how I feel. In
the past, when I was finally able to open up, it would be accompanied
by so much emotion I'd usually end up making the other person upset.
Now I'm able to wait a little while, detach myself, and say how I feel
in a calm manner. This way I feel like I am able to get everything off
of my chest and then punt the ball back in the other person's court.
Even if the outcome isn't exactly as I might have hoped, I do feel
like there is little else I can do and as a result, tend not to dwell
on the issue very much. Some people don't like to talk about things
openly (ever) so I still need to come up with a way to deal with this,
but just being up front with friends about the importance of this
issue (before conflicts arise) might be enough for me to solve most of
these problems....