Sue Firth is a regular contributor to national print, broadcast and internet media, and has been featured in The Guardian, New Woman, Harper’s and Queen, Top Sante Health & Beauty, EVE, Bella and several specialist business publications. Sue was a regular guest on Meridian Broadcasting alongside Paul Nicholas, and is currently a regular topic ‘guest expert’ on BBC Southern Counties Radio. She has also appeared on Radio Four.

This article was about confrontation and how to deal with it. Expressing hurt and upset can be a difficult thing to do at the time but can be valuable even if the problem has to be revisited with the individual involved. It can be better to voice your feelings carefully and with preparation than bottle them causing cumulative distress and resentment.

“Telling someone that they have upset you can be a difficult thing to do but it is an important life skill and one that I believe it is possible to learn and then put in to practice”

Learning when to confront someone, how and what to say is a process. The article expresses ideas and gives a structure for ways to do this well.

This article was about friendship and the lessons you learn in life. It’s easy to think that everyone you meet should be treated equally and met with the expectation that they’ll befriend you happily but actually that’s not always the case. Making an effort with people is one of the ingredients for a good friendship but there are other ingredients and it can be good for us to have a variety of acquaintances too.

Other ingredients are staying in contact; showing an interest in each other’s problems, and surviving difficult experiences that test your ability to still care.
“I believe we all need different types of people in life. These people make up a sort of human jigsaw. There are family pieces, close partner or spouse pieces and the role our friends play. What friendship is about doesn’t need defining but learning that different people come in to your life at different times each in their own way offering something, is the key I think”