We Have To Teach People How To Treat Us
We think nothing of training our pets. We want them to sit when we say “sit.” We want them not to make messes in our houses, so we teach them what is and is not okay. If we have kids, we teach them right from wrong (hopefully), manners, and appropriate behaviors. And whether we believe it or not, we teach people how to treat us.
I learned this idea of teaching people how to treat us from my husband. He’s a wise man who has shown me what it means to respect ourselves enough so that others respect us back.
Our Interactions With Others Come Back to Us
When we interact with others, everything from our body language to our verbal language gives others clues on how they can communicate with us. If we’re shy and quiet, a boisterous person might take that as a sign to be overly aggressive and try to exploit us. If we’re confident and self-assured, others will think twice about trying to bully us. Our mindset really does make a difference in how we think and feel, and that translates to other people.
We’re responsible for our interactions with people. If we’re not happy with our relationships or how a run-in with a stranger went, that’s all on us. Using our words and body language sets the tone for what we’re willing to accept from others.
Sharks Can Smell Fear a Mile Away
I don’t know if that estimate is true with real sharks, but I’m referring to dangerous people who think nothing of harming another soul for their own advantage. These are the folks who prey on kind, loving people and use and abuse them. I’ve been at the receiving end of that for most of my life, and it’s not fun. My issue was that I trusted in people to be good and decent, because I was good and decent, and I had to learn the hard way that not everyone is like me.
There is nothing wrong with being kind and loving, but if an interaction with someone leaves you feeling sad or angry, it means that kindness was not respected or reciprocated. We can open our mouths and call out the harmful behavior to the person who treated us that way if the relationship is worth saving to help bring about change, but it might not do any good. Most of the time, if a person is a shark, they don’t see themselves that way and therefore won’t be willing to listen or change their damaging behavior.
How We Treat Ourselves Is Important
The only person responsible for our happiness and peace of mind is ourselves. There is no one else who gets the job of doing that. So, it makes sense that how we treat ourselves is how others will treat us.
This is where we have to take a good look at ourselves and ask hard questions, like how we feel when interacting with others. I used to be more concerned with how others saw me than I was with how I saw myself. Because of that, I wasn’t able to objectively look at myself and realize the precious gift I was ignoring – myself.
✨ Here’s the Lesson Plan ✨
👉 Pay attention to your interactions with others.
When we’re aware of what’s going on, that’s when we can see for ourselves how others are treating us.
What are they saying to us? Are they being respectful?
👉 Go into interactions with others feeling confident and sure of yourself.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent,” applies here because we are the ones who allow others to make us feel inferior.
We can shut out negativity from others and keep our self-belief strong, regardless of how others treat us. Sometimes we don’t have a choice and have to deal with difficult people. Knowing our worth keeps our heads up and helps us withstand even the worst of people.
👉 Choose relationships that make you feel good.
No matter what anyone tells you, we have the right to choose who we want to spend our time with. We cannot allow guilt or manipulation to force us into being around people who aren’t good for our lives, even if they are related to us.
👉 Respect ourselves.
Respecting ourselves, our time, our desires, and our dreams makes for a great, happy life. When we show how much we respect ourselves, others cannot help but follow suit and show us the same level of respect. The first line of defense against being hurt by others is respecting ourselves so much so that nothing anyone else says or does leaves a lasting impression with us.
👉 The Benefits of Showing Others How To Treat Us
When we show others how much we are willing to accept or not accept, we are in control of our happiness. The moment we let our guard down around people predisposed to be hurtful, they can sense that weakness and exploit it. We have to be protectors of ourselves. We can still be kind and loving while keeping boundaries up. Showing others how to treat us as adults is a wonderful gift to ourselves. We are honoring our inner child who may have been hurt and felt they had no choice but to accept it. Be the compassionate adult to our younger selves and show them that we’re in charge now.
Thank you for reading this. I hope you are living your best life. We all have it in us to treat ourselves with love and compassion, and that’s when we feel the most joy and happiness.
To teaching others,
Francesca
Written by a human for humans.
© 2026 FrancescaME | All rights reserved.
NO PERMISSION FOR AI TRAINING: Any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
