The best way to handle dramatic people

"Susie, it's just so stressful!" my friend Marni complained to me at dinner a few weeks ago.

Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. Outwardly, I just took a big sip of my Prosecco and exhaled. Marni was launching a new project and once again felt stressed as hell. This was a common pattern with my new friend Marni, I was rapidly starting to notice. Her apartment move was stressful - that's fair enough. Then her relationship with her mother was making her crazy. Then, flustered as usual, she'd send me frantic-sounding texts for my biz input on her various projects.

It's one thing to be stressed out - we all are at one time or another, right? But Marni's stress was constant. So much so that... dare I label it a victim loop? This is a term we refer to in coaching when someone has the same problem over and over and takes no responsibility for it or shows any plans to change it. (The solution is to be accountable for the problem and take action to solve it.)