Playing Chicken

We fight about the principle. In theory we probably agree, but we are both so stubborn we need it done our way. I want you to do A so I can do B and you insist that until I do B you will not do A. It’s a vicious cycle that cannot be broken unless someone backs down and says, “fine, we’ll do it your way”. I don’t want to be that someone, because it defies the morals and values that I hold dearly. You don’t want to be that someone for the same reason. We sit and stare at each other as if playing chicken: waiting for one person to give in. Our stubbornness says I’m not giving in, I’d rather give up. But if we give up, we both lose. Isn’t better to have one winner than to have two losers? I am a people pleaser, so it is me that will back down and do it your way. I just hate that I am that way, I hate that I had to compromise what is important to me to satisfy you. And what hurts the most is that I am not certain that you would ever do it for me. I hope that I’ve made the right decision. I want to make you happy, even if it requires me to sacrifice what is important to me. I believe that keeping things happy between us is more important right now than fighting for a principle, regardless of how important that principle is to me. So the point has been proven – you won the chicken fight. I give in because I refuse to give up.