The Art of the Dinner Table Power Play
Share
We were on a patio, the kind where you can smell the grass and hear the thwack of a golf ball. I kept hoping the birds would wander close, but an old plastic owl sat frozen in the corner, glaring with yellow eyes — a silent warning to keep their distance.
Golfers took their turns, all precision over one tiny ball. I still don’t get it. Why not two? Twice the chaos. Twice the fun.
Across from me, he sat quiet. He says he’s “always walking on eggshells” with me.
Maybe he is. But here’s the thing — I’m not just walking on them. I’m collecting them, arranging them, building the floor of my empire. While he’s afraid to crack one, I’m turning them into currency.
Eggshells aren’t fragile when they’re mine.
They’re strategy.
Rule #1 — Let Silence Work for You
The one who’s more comfortable with silence owns the room. Smile, sip, let your presence speak louder than words.
Rule #2 — Keep One Hand on the Fork, the Other on Your Empire
That night, I was closing my biggest deal yet for American Wilderness Roofing between bites. He thought I was “always on my phone.” I was laying bricks in my empire.
Rule #3 — Control the Emotional Climate
Warm, confident, unbothered. No reaction to jabs or digs. He plays in the space you designed.
Later, he’d say, “We don’t talk, we fight.”
Copy. I said. And walked away.
The silence he has now? He manifested it.
Then came the futon. He threw it away when we were separated — worried another man might sleep on it. It didn’t cost much, but it told me everything: he wanted control more than connection.
I realized something in that moment:
This is no longer my game.
I’m building empires, not babysitting dead weight.
If you’re a woman in the middle of your own dinner table power play, remember this: you don’t have to flip the table to win. Sometimes, you just quietly move your seat — and eventually, your entire life — somewhere better.
Remember, I’m always rooting for you from my wild little corner on the internet.
🖤 Ash, American Wilderness Woman