There’s just something about holiday family gatherings around the dinner table that can trigger the worst in some people.
You need a game plan before you go in to battle. As with a good Thanksgiving football game, set the rules in advance.
“The rules are you choose your teammates beforehand. Let them know there’s a secret game,” advises Cheryl Hunter, who coaches people in how to overcome adversity. Hunter knows how to go eyeball to eyeball with challenges: traveling abroad as a teenager, she was kidnapped, held captive, tortured, and eventually left for dead. Navigating the dinner table should not be as stressful. “No matter what negativity people spew out, you can spin it into something positive. If you fumble, if you get tackled, you throw the ball to one of your teammates and you have them steer the conversation in a positive direction.”
If British and German troops could declare a truce during the First World War, you can too. “They literally climbed out of the trenches, put aside their arms, and celebrated the holiday. I think we can do the same at Thanksgiving.," Hunter suggests
The only points scored today should be given to a moist, tender turkey.
photo: Getty Images