How to Deal With Not Being Liked – Those People Who Do Not Treat You Well

Image by csbonawitz from Pixabay

My friend remarked to me this week, when I mentioned I just had to learn how to deal with being hated by a particular person, that they probably didn’t hate me at all. That is true, they may not, that is more my evaluation of their actions. They may in fact be resentful, jealous, guilty, or any number of things, but the bottom line is they don’t treat me well.

There is that famous saying “Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth” and yet…

When those people out there who had a nice secure attachment bond growing up, or those who learned to project their pain on others, then have a habit of saying unhelpful things like “Just ignore them” or “Who cares what people think?” or “Learn not to give any fks” people like me want to scream.

Being brought up in a world where it felt like my quality of life very much depended on being liked, and being “good”, I became hyper attuned to others. What people thought of me – to my nervous system – felt like a matter of life and death, it’s hard wired in my body and mind to care. 

When I sense someone not liking something I’ve said or done, I go into this mode of “well, clearly there is a misunderstanding because I bear this person no ill intention”. More than that though, my body goes into a flight/fight/freeze reaction and I can ruminate for days, weeks, months – even years depending on the person and situation, always searching for a way to make it safe.

I saw a post this week that really resonated “Know this: You can’t control the versions of you that exist in other people’s minds”. It reminded me of another popular one I had seen a while back from Kira J that read:

“You have to become okay with not being liked. No matter how loving or kind you are, you will never people please your way into collective acceptance. You could be a whole ray of sunshine and people will hate you because they are used to rain. Be okay with shining regardless”.

There’s no escaping the truth of this, I’m totally on board with it, but it just doesn’t feel safe within my body to be disliked so I have too often given away my power in order to keep the peace.

Then one of my kids had been getting taunted by a classmate and – for fear of losing her temper and the consequences that would bring – she had been avoiding the situation. Clearly my child couldn’t avoid school forever; this is something she needed to learn how to deal with.

So as I looked around for some age-appropriate inspiration, I came across a short video by psychologist Liz Laugeson on Comebacks for Being Teased that hit the nail on the head. The more I’ve thought about it, her advice works for everything from school bullying to living with someone with raging narcissistic tendencies.

Her statement “We all get teased at some point, but it’s how we react to it that often determines how often or how severely it happens” caught my attention. She comments on how the advice adolescents are usually given is to either to walk away, ignore, or tell an adult/authority which often doesn’t work.

It’s only when “They act like what the person said didn’t bother them and, in fact, what they said was kind of lame” that the teasing/taunting/bullying ceases. That’s because the instigator is trying to get a reaction, it makes them feel powerful, and if one isn’t forthcoming it’s not worth the effort. And while most people prefer positive reactions, negative reactions are better than nothing.

Attorney Rebecca Zung agrees, she teaches widely on negotiating with people with narcissistic traits and has guided many adults through separation and divorce. She calls the positive reactions – like praise, admiration and adulation – top shelf narcissistic supply. But says people with those traits will absolutely settle for bottom shelf reactions like anger, fear, or any other negative emotion.

It’s the emotional reaction – whether negative or positive – that feeds the need for dominance and control. That is because, as is also the case in schoolyard teasing, what lies beneath that need is a deeply insecure person.

Having been at the receiving end myself, I also know what it’s like when those around me then try to place a "reasonable person" lens on their advice, advising to just sit down and talk things through, getting frustrated at the prolonged nature of negotiations and angst on my behalf.

Not that their advice is incorrect, that is of course what I had attempted; it is sound advice if negotiating with a reasonable and cooperative person. However, if the other person’s energy literally feeds from taking power, it feeds from the fight itself.

I’ve learned that people with narcissistic traits are never going to sit down and state what they want like a reasonable person. Win-win is not in their psyche, it's win-lose they feed from. They stage war, but they don't want to win the war without having many drawn out battles along the way. Every battle is a chance to win power over the other; it's how they get their energy, and their very sense of self.

It is why, Rebecca Zung says, that “just giving them what they want doesn’t work. They will find a way to drag things out, twist your words and continue to try to provoke a reaction”. The only way to deal with it is by not giving them the satisfaction of an emotional response.

It's not any different than the taunting my daughter was subject to. When she reacts emotionally and says "Stop! Why are you doing this?" That's the reaction right there that makes the provoker feel powerful because they've made the other person feel powerless. It’s when you can give off the impression you don’t care that takes the steam out their pistons.

It was of course hard keeping my centre and personal power in the face of multitudes of spurious accusations in relation to those people and things closest to me. The temptation to respond to even the smallest and most ridiculous of barbs is always there, my inner child’s voice still says “there must be some misunderstanding, let me explain…”.

But the bottom line is, if that person doesn't treat me well, if their communication is devoid of basic respect, then it's designed to provoke. It's certainly not in the realms of fair and reasonable, it's more in the realm of street fighting.  And the situations I’ve been through have been so extreme it’s taught me life lessons that will serve me well going forward.

This desire to explain, to educate the other person that my intentions are good, it’s a fools desire when over and over for many years that other person has chosen to ignore the countless kind and thoughtful things I’ve done, the thousands of reasoned explanations and evidence of my inherent goodness.

Like Kira J says, I can’t people please my way into acceptance, I need to accept myself and accept that the other person – for whatever reason – is simply not going to see my sun as shining and hold some strong and healthy boundaries around that. What is the old saying “When the horse is dead, get off”, yes indeed, I reckon that horse was already a pile of bones many times over in my life, and I’ve looked at it seeing the potential it could have with some life breathed into it. Huge painful wasted energy.

No more giving away my power, end of story. Nor is the answer in taking from others, however, even when they are goading and pushing and trying to get a reaction, win-win is always the way to go. The satisfaction of revenge and retorts are temporary and only fuel the flames, they too are an emotional reaction. I want to keep integrity and walk away with my head held high.

To end I will quote another post I saw this week from Sasha Tozzi, wise words indeed. She says “Choose people who:

• Choose you
  
• Ask how you are
  
• See you
  
• Let you be you
  
• Feel good to your nervous system
  
• You can breathe easily around
  
• You don’t need to perform for
  
• Are good for your mental health\Want to see you win
  
• Don’t try to control you”
  

Amen to that.

If you enjoyed reading this, you may enjoy How to Make Your Communication Clean, Open and Honest and Get What You Want, Do You Need to Heal Your Boundaries?, Do You Always Express Your True Feelings? Get out of Your Head and into Your Heart, Change Unhealthy Reactions, Base Your Actions on Love Not Fear and Why You Should Consciously Engage in Body Talk. To be the first to receive these posts, you can also opt to subscribe to my blog.