Walk away from an argument. Walk towards a situation in which you are likely to feel comfortable. You don't have to prove anything. You don't need to rise to a particular person's bait. There can be a smooth, successful transaction - an easy exchange. If something looks difficult, it almost certainly represents a challenge that you really don't have to rise to. cosmos is some timely advice. Stop caring. Stop investing so much hope, faith and determination into a temporary situation. You are clouding your judgement by allowing a sense of need to overwhelm you.
We think we're so clever these days. Yet in the old days, they knew many things that we have forgotten. What we hear, we hear privately in our brains. What we feel, we feel deep in our hearts. It does not, therefore, much matter where we go or what we do - as long as we can adjust our psychological responses. 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' is not a good practice.