Habits that may be contributing to you becoming draining to others

In our daily interactions, we often engage in behaviors that, unbeknownst to us, can be exhausting to others. Today, we're diving into four such behaviors that might be making you exhausting to be around.

Firstly, the need to always be right usually stems from insecurity, not intelligence. Dale Carnegie, a renowned author and lecturer, once said, "You can't win an argument. You can't because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it." Constantly needing to be right can make someone exhausting to be around.

Secondly, the exhausting person launches straight into their drama the moment someone asks "How are you?" They don't check if the other person has the bandwidth to listen, and they rarely reciprocate by asking how the other person is doing. Real listening means sitting with someone else's experience without immediately filtering it through your own. The most powerful thing you can say is simply "That sounds really hard" or "Tell me more about that."

Thirdly, hijacking every conversation to redirect it back to yourself leaves people feeling unheard and unimportant. While it's true that we need to express our feelings, timing and consent matter. Phubbing, or phone snubbing, is another behavior that negatively affects intimacy and closeness in relationships. Nearly 32% of people report being phubbed two to three times a day.

Lastly, constant availability and willingness to help, taking on problem-solving for others without being asked, denying your own needs such as hunger or fatigue, and having difficulty delegating tasks due to control issues can also make you exhausting to be around. The tricky part? Most of us don't even realize we're doing behaviors that are exhausting to others.

Being wrong or letting someone else be wrong can be the kindest thing to do. Dale Carnegie said it best, "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." Let's strive to be better listeners and make a positive impact on those around us.