The post is going to look at how people with difficult personalities drain your energy and dim your light. If this sounds like you, there are ways to cut off these emotional siphons. First, let’s understand why we get so emotionally involved with difficult people in the first place.
How Difficult People Suck Us In
You will often come across advice to walk away from difficult people. What does this even mean? Does it mean that if your boss is a difficult person you should quit your job? Does it mean you should hide in the bathroom to protect yourself against your soul-sucking sister whenever she comes to visit and won’t stop talking about herself and complaining the whole time? Maybe if it’s bad enough but not necessarily. Most of the difficult people we interact with is because of a relationship or series of relationships that we are invested in and need such as work, friends, or family.
The cost: What difficult people steal from you
If we ever want to truly end the bad practice of giving away our energy to other people then we must identify and recognize just exactly how valuable the energy stolen from us is. Below find some examples:
Giving away your “creative energy”
This has to do with sharing ideas with someone who later steals them and takes full credit. How many times have you run right up to that “difficult” friend and blurted what you thought was the greatest idea ever, only to have that person smirk and demean you? What happened then? Of course, the difficult person waited for an opportunity to tell that very same idea to someone who had more social influence than you… AND they acted as though the idea was all their own. This is a prime, everyday example of “giving away one’s energy” to a difficult and selfish individual.
How to STOP giving your “creative energy” away to difficult people: RETHINK your need for approval. If you feel the need to always share your ideas with someone who discounts and discredits you, ask yourself WHY you need this person’s approval. THEN recognize that you will never get it. Your best bet if you want to put your ideas into action is to speak to someone who has a positive influence and will likely INCLUDE you as well as credit you.
Giving away your “heart energy”
Anyone who is generous in everyday life will likely have pleasing tendencies when it comes to giving and expressing love. When this is reciprocated it’s a beautiful, loving expression. However, if you are always the one to show affection, only to have them accept it without acknowledgment or leave you high and dry by not reciprocating affection, you will be running a deficit.
To stop giving away your heart energy, don’t do another loving act until you receive affection from them. Healthy relationships take turns, switching roles, giving, and taking. If the difficult person can’t reciprocate your generosity with affection of their own, then the next obvious move on your part is to begin protecting your heart.
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