My mom always taught me to be assertive, say what you need. Make it clear what it is that you want. Don't let people walk over you.

My mom also taught me, not to dignify every little thing with a response. My time in college has made this piece of advice much more needed.

Yes it is important to say how you feel, but once you do, learn to ignore the silliness. It'll save yourself from the unnecessary stress.

I often find myself in situations where I don't know what to say or how to react. My lack of the ability to explain my frustration causes me to get upset, to hype situations, and ultimately stress myself out. It's gets me no where, and fast. Remember when we were in high school and drama would happen, so naturally we told the story to all of our close friends? Except the story became larger and you claimed that you said phrases in which you actually only kept in your head. Because let's be real, if your shy or passive like me, you didn't tell them what you really felt. That's toxic. Too much attention and energy is out into silly situations and plain ignorance. I'm learning that the frustration can be dealt with through simple conversation and then no more conversation at all. Keeping things inside is incredibly toxic, that's why you get it off your chest once. It'll drive you crazy because the same issue that you are not communicating can and will continue to happen, but the more of a reaction you give to it, the greater of a toll it will take on you.

So practice self care, simply say how you feel and then pay zero attention to it.

You can thank my mom later.