Drama. It's all around us. Especially in middle school...and high school...and college. Especially for girls. When I was young I was really good at avoiding it like the plague, disassociating myself from it, or just reminding myself it doesn't matter and carrying on with my life. I was often complimented on my ability to avoid drama that most girls went through and I lived more happily because of it.

However, in recent years, as I've gotten older, met more people, gotten involved in more different activities and leadership positions, I have learned something: drama is absolutely unavoidable. Even if you're like me, introverted and drama free and easy going, it tends to still find you at some point. It pops up in your family, friend group, relationship, maybe a club or at school or work or really anywhere. And I'm not going to say it's always a bad thing. Drama comes from people being passionate about something. Without any of it, life would be way too easy. There's always going to be obstacles in your way and sometimes they can be literally man made. A little bit of healthy, passionate drama can keep things interesting.

An end goal is always more rewarding when there was an obstacle to overcome and everything wasn't smooth sailing start to finish. Keep these things in mind first and foremost when you're faced with a bit of drama-most likely, everyone has good intentions and just isn't handling a conflict well. That being said, you also want to make sure you personally don't escalate the drama.

Sometimes, that means helping come up with reasonable solutions, sometimes, it means putting the phone down for a while or stepping away and waiting to talk until everyone is calm. You will inevitably be part of drama one day, but you don't have to be THE drama, or the cause of it. You want to try and be the solution. You may have to occasionally say some uncomfortable things or step up and doing something that someone else is unwilling to do. You may have to apologize on someone's behalf or call someone out on something that is wrong.

Don't cower in the corner when there is drama. It is a good time to make your voice heard if you can do so in a reasonable manner. The most important thing to remember is the infamous "this too shall pass." Most things that seem big in the moment, especially as a teen or young adult, won't matter in a year or maybe even a week. If you need to remove some toxic people from your life, you absolutely should.

The petty drama is rarely ever worth it and you're only young once. Take a deep breath, think rationally, vent to a very neutral third party like your mom, and take the drama head on. It's going to be okay. It always is.