Do you have someone who is hard to deal with and is in your life for a reason by circumstance and not by choice? Like maybe your kids are friends with their kids?
What would happen if, just in your head, nowhere else, you redefined that person as not a friend but an acquaintance? Would that make their behavior easier to deal with?
This technique has worked for me in the past. My expectations for acquaintances are much lower than my expectations for friends. These people don’t know that they are reclassified, but my brain does.
That makes all the difference.
What do you think? Would this work for you?