The presidential election is quickly approaching. Opposing candidates, all those ideas, all those strong opinions. Sometimes it can be exciting and stimulating; other times it can be a bit much.

For the most part, when we become overwhelmed with it all and have had enough, we can turn off the TV, change the radio station, walk away from the computer or put down the phone.

No matter what political ideologies you subscribe to or which candidate you personally identify with, there is one aspect of the election cycle that may be a little more difficult for us to look away from:

Our relationships.

Whether it’s your BFF from back home, your favorite co-worker to have lunch with or even the service member you’re married to, you’re NOT going to agree on every issue, every candidate or every belief.

This can occasionally cause strife within a relationship.

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen a friendship implode or dissolve after a subject like politics enters the conversational arena…I swear it’s like a heat-seeking missile!

So, does that mean that we should never ever talk about our beliefs, political or otherwise, with the people we know and care about?

OF COURSE NOT! The issue isn’t WHAT we talk about, but HOW we talk about it.

Here are a few suggestions that might help keep your partner-in-crime (co-worker, spouse, sister-from-another-mister) from becoming your sparring partner: