Q&A for How to Avoid People

If you are avoiding them, it might be because your own feelings are out of line. Can you try to repair things with this person to make your relationship more comfortable? If not, don't avoid them—be kind, but don't stick around. If you are at a party, acknowledge their presence and then find a polite way to leave the conversation.

If you are certain this person is trying to inflict harm upon you, then you should try reporting this to the local authorities. Do not confront this person, you could put yourself in a dangerous situation. Seek help immediately.

Never say a word, give an insincere smile when she greets you, and walk away as soon as you can. Do it multiple times and after a while, stop the smiling. She'll get the message.

Just smile and say hello. Make polite conversation for a moment; you can ask them about the weather, how their family is doing, or anything else that comes to mind. You can then politely excuse yourself and tell your mum that her guest has arrived.

The only thing to do is distract yourself with fun activities. Watch a movie, read a book, or paint a picture. Even if it's only temporary, doing something to distract yourself can take your mind off someone for awhile.

Not necessarily. Trouble can come in many forms. You will just be avoiding that individual person's trouble.

You could lock yourself in your room, go outside or just go to a different part of the house.

Change your routine, don't answer the phone and just tell him you need some time away.

Ask someone, an adult that you trust, for help. If you don't like him, you can tell him to please stop.

If you're at your house, lock your bedroom door. If that doesn't work, go somewhere or maybe take a walk.

When they hurt you, go find help immediately. If there is a big group hurting you, don't try to fend them off on your own because you could get hurt even more. Ask for help from people you know and trust. If you have to encounter these people, bring someone with you so you're not alone.

Tell them to back off a bit and explain why. If they seem to get upset, just tell them you can hang out some time, but for this period of time, you just want to be alone.

This is one of those situations in which avoidance isn't necessarily the best solution. You should start by talking to the person who is bothering you. If discussing the issue doesn't help very much, you might consider moving out or having the other person move out.

See How to Deal with Depression . If you're asking about avoiding people, the way to do so is the same regardless of your mental state. However, withdrawing from people is generally not helpful for depression. Do avoid any toxic people who weigh you down, but try to maintain your relationships with people you care about and trust.

Why do you want to avoid that person? If you have a valid reason, then tell the teacher you want to sit elsewhere (if there is a seating plan). If the teacher refuses, see the guidance counselor.

When you see her, just pretend like she's someone you don't know. Walk by her and don't say anything. It will feel awkward at first, but you will get used to it.

If they wait for you in a specific spot, change routes. Or, you could just quickly walk past them, ignoring them if they try to talk to you. Lastly, tell them to not wait for you and why not to. Remember to keep this short and simple.

Tell that person how you feel on a daily basis when you're insulted and how it affects you. If that doesn't work, talk to your counselor, a parent, or teacher about that.

Don't interact with them, don't even make eye contact. Try to stay in a group of friends so you have back-up if necessary. If you're really worried about your safety, tell an adult about this.

Spend the breaks away from them, arrive at the last minute to classes and leave first. Put on headphones and read a book. Don't look at them, and don't talk to them. Pretend they don't even exist.

You can't really run from your own mind. You should feel your feelings, and if you do that, it can sometimes make you feel a bit better. Sometimes listening to sad music is nice when you're sad. You can also find refuge in friends.

Just ignore them. If you know where their classes are, walk to your classes in a different direction than they walk to theirs. It shouldn't be too hard unless that person is actively seeking you.

Make other plans to go other places, invite someone over to be a social buffer (just make sure they are ok with being a buffer), engage in some kind of project that requires attention and/or quiet (such as schoolwork or something for your job/career), go for a walk, a drive, or a bike ride, take a nap or pretend to take a nap (just have a good excuse for being tired), go shopping (I recommend grocery shopping or going to get something you need, so you have a better reason to go), give a friend a ride somewhere, go get something you "forgot" at work/school/friend's house, where noise canceling headphones or "noise canceling" headphones, do yard work (if you live in the right area), etc.

It may not be possible to avoid your brother. I am someone's brother myself, and I sometimes don't understand how my sister managed not to kill me! But she did sit me down to talk to me quite sternly a number of times, so even though it's perhaps from the other perspective, my advice to you would be to talk to your brother to get him to cut it out.

Block or unfollow the person. Use the instructions for the social media site or platform you're using.

Just tell them you don't want to be as close anymore, and when they talk to you give short, boring answers. They will probably stop talking to you and move on.

There's not much you can do to make them not recognize you, but you can stay out of their way and if they talk to you just give a short, boring answer.

It's hard to do this. If you don't want any friends at all, the best thing to do is to attend an online school or get home schooled. This way you probably don't have to interact with many people except your teacher(s). Talk to your parents about socializing bothering you and ask them about attending home school. If you can't do that, just don't talk to people. If they talk to you, give them a short, boring answer, they'll probably get bored and leave. However, also question your generalization about "everyone"––it suggests you might need to meet far more people so you can realize that only some people are nasty and that most people are supportive, caring and interested in the well-being of others.

It might seem like everyone sucks but don't let that get into your head. First minimise your conversations with them. But keep observing your classmates. You will soon realise that they are not that bad. Don't keep a rigid rule that you will never ever talk to them. Create a clear boundary but still have healthy gates.

You can hide. You can try to scare them off. You can surround yourself with friends. You can call the police.