Evaluation Part II

So - another day of evaluating life stresses :-)  I may be making YOU stressed - but I am beginning to feel better.  Something about talking things through helps!
I think this one kind of sums a few things up in one subject.  The problem with this particular thing is I think it's not something you can just eliminate from your life.
It's called people.
We all have people in our lives that cause us an undue amount of stress.  I do my best to eliminate the majority of these people from my life.  Unfortunately, one cannot eliminate them all.  There are certain people, in certain situations that you have no choice but to learn to deal with one way or another.  I just need to figure out how.  Not always an easy task.
Something I ask myself is this.  Would confronting these people do me any good?  What if you've already talked to them and they either don't want to hear what you have to say - or they have their minds made up and it doesn't make any difference what you say anyway?  What if they are just plain difficult people?  What if they, themselves, are unhappy - so they determine to make YOU unhappy?  What if they are insecure and merely attack you to cover up their own issues?  What if some of them are Godly - and some not?  How does that change or not change your response (or no response)?
I know everyone thinks I'm all great at confrontation and everything.  I'm like a match - once lit - I burn hot and I burn fast - and if you happen to be there when the match gets lit - watch out because you might get burned.  The problem is - the above mentioned people are never there when the match gets lit because I either hear about things through the grapevine or they just aren't around.  Or I go home and mull things over in my head wishing I would have dealt with things differently.  Anyway - the point is - I'm not as good at confrontation as most people think.  There are plenty - plenty - of times I have been hurt and have never said a word to the people who have done the hurting.  I avoid them and generally speaking - I don't talk to them about it.
Off the topic - yet still on topic - has to do with my musical endeavors at the moment.  I have missed playing over the years.  I have particularly missed playing at a high level.  So - as most of you know - I joined a few things in order to play once again.  I'm not going to say which thing I have joined that this particular person is involved in.  I play in a number of different areas at the moment.  Anyway - in one of the arenas in which I am playing currently, there is a person who has, for unknown reasons, decided they just don't like me.  Nothing directly has been said - but that's part of the problem.  Little digs here and there, little snotty remarks to others in regards to something I might be playing at the moment or have played in the past.  Looks.  The air so thick you could cut it with a knife when I walk in the room.  And to think we're all old.  Ridiculous.  I don't know if this particular person is somehow threatened by me or what (which is just plain stupid because at the moment, I play like crapola & they are a better player than me - although if the attitude continues, that will drive me to return to a level they don't know I'm capable of as of yet).  It doesn't make sense to me.  They are making this particular playing arena stressful - and unenjoyable.  That's when I think "WHY do I bother??" 
Which leads me to the final point.
WHY CAN'T PEOPLE JUST BE NICE???  Is it REALLY that hard??  Obviously it must be.  Too many people feel far too free to express their views without taking even a second to understand where another person might be coming from.  Too many people think their way is the only way and the right way.  Too many people act like morons and seem to be incapable of being nice.
Anyway.  That's a stress for me - dealing with the difficult people in life.  They are everywhere and you can't get through life without dealing with them.  I've been one of those people in my life myself - the difficult one.  I do miss my younger self - when - if you crossed my path the wrong way - I'd just tell you like it is.  I'm not that person anymore.  I need to find a balance between that person and this one.
Anywho.  That's that!!  Any advice on how to deal with the more difficult people in life?  Is it best to stay quiet or to confront? How to confront in a manner that is Godly and in control - yet not allow people to walk all over you?  On this note - I read a great blog.  I think it's on the right side of this blog as a list.  It's Deanna's blog - check it out.  She's a Pastor's wife and given plenty of opportunities to deal with this very subject.  I like her.  She once threatened (sorry if I misquote this) to break a ladies legs if she continued to hit on her husband.  Lol.  THAT cracked me up.  She's direct - but she never crosses the line into the ungodly (sorry, but if someone was hitting on my husband the way her husband was being hit on - I might not have just said I would break your legs - I might have actually broken them).  She's found a way to deal with difficult people with humor & from all outside appearances, without going home and losing sleep over them.
Okay - long enough post.  What's your advice?