Have you every had any one person or even multiple people do everything they could to make you feel small? I know I have. Relationships, my family, people who I called friends, employers, etc. I will never understand why people feel they need to make others feel small so they can feel big.

Growing up I was constantly told that I was going to grow up to be a loser or a nobody and amount to nothing. And I proceeded and continue to prove them wrong. Out of my siblings I was always treated differently, and that is not middle child syndrome coming out. At the time I was one of three, found out about the fourth much later in life, and my brother and sister were always treated better. I always chalked it up to it being because they lived with our mom full-time and I lived with my dad full-time. But, I’ll never actually know why. I just know bringing it up to my mom now would just lead to denial and still no answers.

Almost every relationship I have been in, same thing. I’m not good enough, their ex was better, they themselves are better than me, etc. It’s like I gravitate towards narcissistic, manipulative, gas lighting, control freaks for partners. Especially the ones that come off like the sweetest person in the world that loves you so much and then one day a switch is flipped. Anything they would constantly berate me about got to the point I just started to believe it.

Even at jobs where the bosses constantly act like you are nothing and they are so much better than you. But, God forbid they’re wrong about something and you call them out on it. Or there’s an error in something they did and you point it out to correct it. At that point it always feels like all of Hell is going to break loose.

There are always going to be those people out there dying to make you feel small. Don’t let them, cut those people from your life, you don’t need them. Simply just tell them, “I understand you are trying to compensate for something, but it’s not going to work on me.”, and watch them get upset and storm off. I myself have been getting better at cutting people off who make me feel crappy. Trust me I am not the best and am definitely still working on it, but I am trying. Don’t give them the satisfaction of taking up space in your head when you could have good thoughts about yourself there instead.

You are not small. Anyone who thinks otherwise can kick rocks. You can tell them Serenity said so.