Sometimes a dispute will settle in a way that is surprising. One party may accept an offer relatively early on in negotiation talks, or at a point that comes unexpectedly. While not always a result of inexperience in negotiation, the decision to move on and focus efforts elsewhere could stem from simply being over the situation due to exhaustion, depletion of funds to date on legal expenses, or a number of reasons—all perfectly valid for people to end legal battles. Sometimes a party’s inner peace is worth more and that’s okay!

Disputes most commonly settle after a reasonably lengthy negotiation discussion between the parties. Usually it is one in which all parties make concessions on certain positions and have discussed various options, argued, cried—you name it. Every so often, a party will accept an offer or meet a demand without much of a fight. While it’s not what I’m usually met with, I can usually understand what would cause them to make their decision. 

Litigation and legal disputes in general—whether or not litigated—are a nasty drain on one’s life, particularly when the costs begin accruing. Most people truly do not understand the extent of how much any legal battle costs, nor the time and energy typically required. Nearly everyone who is involved in litigation also has several other pressing matters in their personal life. All the time and energy devoted to any dispute will take attention away from other, more important aspects of life. Fortunately, some people are able to do the mental math and decide where their energies should be devoted, which may result in putting a cap on the amount of time, money and energy devoted to the dispute at hand. This is difficult to do when emotionally charged by an issue, but is often the decision that brings a great deal of peace and prevents you from going down a rabbit hole. 

It is important to remember that conflict in the legal sense is not only expensive and time consuming, but stressful and can greatly affect your mental health. It is not uncommon—in my observations—to see people in conflict seek out mental health services, medication. We can very easily get hung up on issues that we only persist in engaging in because we have been hurt somehow or want justice to be served to the other party. However, we don’t actually always need to do those things because they might not actually be worth it for us individually. Sometimes your peace is worth so much more.

Besides, karma will ultimately make us answer for it eventually.