I wasn't sure whether to put this in the WDW General Discussion forum or here; I decided to post it here since, while this all started with a WDW trip, it's not about WDW specifically. Plus, this is about a family member and how to have what I'm pretty sure is going to be a long and frustrating conversation, not about the place itself, so it didn't feel appropriate to post in the General Discussion. If I'm wrong though, I'll delete this and post it there instead.
I originally had a much longer post too, but I decided not to bore you all with every little detail that led to me making this point and the complex relationship I have with the family member who wants to take the trip. For a quick summary of the situation: Three years ago I went to WDW. This family member wanted to come. I love this person and they love, but we have a complicated relationship and, well, they aren't very nice. We struggle to get along for more than a few hours at a time. So I managed to convince them it was too late for them to join and thought that would be the end of it. Nope. For the past three years, they've been trying to get my mom and I (who also went on the trip) to go on another trip with them, and aren't taking "No" for an answer anymore. It's to the point where I think a difficult conversation needs to be had, but I don't know how to go about it. How do you go about telling someone "I don't want to take a trip with you because you can't go more than an hour without being mean to me, and I think we'll be at each other's throats before we get to the airport?" If I'm honest about the reason, it's going to be a fight and is going to damage an already very rocky relationship. But they're not taking any other reason I could think of for an answer, and they've made it clear they aren't giving up on the idea of going on a trip with us until we give in and say yes.
Does anyone have any experience with something like this? How would you go about shutting down the idea of a vacation together without hurting their feelings? Would it be be better to tell the truth and try to fix the damage after, or give a lie that might go down smoother? I don't this isn't quite as light-hearted as some of the threads in this forum, but I would appreciate any advice people have.
I originally had a much longer post too, but I decided not to bore you all with every little detail that led to me making this point and the complex relationship I have with the family member who wants to take the trip. For a quick summary of the situation: Three years ago I went to WDW. This family member wanted to come. I love this person and they love, but we have a complicated relationship and, well, they aren't very nice. We struggle to get along for more than a few hours at a time. So I managed to convince them it was too late for them to join and thought that would be the end of it. Nope. For the past three years, they've been trying to get my mom and I (who also went on the trip) to go on another trip with them, and aren't taking "No" for an answer anymore. It's to the point where I think a difficult conversation needs to be had, but I don't know how to go about it. How do you go about telling someone "I don't want to take a trip with you because you can't go more than an hour without being mean to me, and I think we'll be at each other's throats before we get to the airport?" If I'm honest about the reason, it's going to be a fight and is going to damage an already very rocky relationship. But they're not taking any other reason I could think of for an answer, and they've made it clear they aren't giving up on the idea of going on a trip with us until we give in and say yes.
Does anyone have any experience with something like this? How would you go about shutting down the idea of a vacation together without hurting their feelings? Would it be be better to tell the truth and try to fix the damage after, or give a lie that might go down smoother? I don't this isn't quite as light-hearted as some of the threads in this forum, but I would appreciate any advice people have.
I've been in a very similar situation and sorry to say it's with my brother. We are very different and chose different paths in life so we cant relate for anything more than just being siblings. He's just a person with a laissez-faire worldview that didn't achieve much. We go our own directions which is from a large extended southern family perspective is not normal. I get along with my cousins better as they all work hard.