Edith: Coming from somebody who has a lot of judgy family members and people who snoop around from outside my immediate circle, my true advice is to outright ignore them. Point blank, no frills advice. Just ignore them.

Ethel: I have to say I agree 1000%. They are most likely acting that way for attention anyway, so if you deprive them of that, they will get bored and move on. 

Edith: If you want to be petty, I would say to simply act like you don’t know them. “Who are you? Sorry, I truly don’t remember you.” Even at social functions, don’t give them the satisfaction.

Ethel: I like to ask judgy people one question. “Do you want to pay my bills?” If they say no, I tell them they have no say in the rest of my life then. If they aren’t financially contributing to my life, they have no say in how I decide to live my life. 

Edith: People who never have something nice to say, especially blood family, are just struggling to cope with the fact you are doing what you’re doing. Even if you’re realistically doing a mediocre job, you’re still doing it. They just can’t handle it.

Ethel: Let’s be honest, they’re just jealous. They want to have the freedom or courage to make the decisions you are making, and since they don’t seem to be able to, they act out. Talk smack if you will.

Edith: That distant cousin and their friend who never talks to you except to talk smack? Irrelevant. Who cares if they already started their family or have a high paying job? It doesn’t matter to you and how you live, so why stress? Everybody goes through life at their own pace – let them be.

Ethel: So Annoyed Andy, if you want to deal with a judgy person, best bet is to ignore it and keep on living your life. Alternatively, you can tell them to shove it or tell them point blank to stop judging you and see if that works, but usually, it’s just better to move on with your life.