Passive. Aggressive.
A personality trait that is really hard to get rid of - is passive aggressiveness. It is one of those aspects of character that will interfere with relationships, and send most of the real intimacy and connection you have with someone - into a colder place. For me, passive aggressive behavior is a form of defense. I will usually slip into passive aggressive when I feel attacked, but on a level where the action to defend myself has to be sublimated. Case in point - when I was a teenager, I used passive aggressive behavior to survive my parents. One of the places where we all had to lay down our weapons was the dinner table - and so I lapsed into a kind of non-talkative - noncommittal state where I would share as little of my day as I possibly could. I suppose your parents always love you - but when you're a teenager - you really want to go your own way. It's a shame, really - because one of the best memories I had of my childhood was breakfast conversation overheard at ...
