When you’ve got a history of trauma it can be hard to see when someone is pulling your strings…
Manipulative people are great at identifying those who are innocent to their games. They see more in you than you can see in yourself, specifically the patterns that allow people like them into your life.
The truth is that most fall into the lap of manipulators because they’ve normalized that behavior at some point in their lives. Some of us came by that honestly, being raised in abusive homes with manipulative partners and siblings who said and did whatever they wanted to get what they desired. Others learned it the other hard way, through bad relationships with toxic people they couldn’t anticipate.
Unless you had a healthy background, full of caring people who taught you how to see through the games, the odds are you’ve fallen for a manipulative person at some point.
Why would someone behave like this? Because they want to control you.
The aim of manipulative behavior is to change your behavior. Manipulators may want to get something out of you, they may want to take control of something that you have. Or, they may want pity out of you. They may want you to think differently about them, or to avoid holding them accountable for something they’ve done wrong.
It’s a tricky game to play, and unless you learn how to play it the manipulators in your life will continue to take control of your emotions and your behaviors. How do you get to the other side? How do you avoid their subtle traps? By learning how to spot the subtle signs and by setting boundaries that no one gets to cross (on any terms).
Want to discover how you can better safeguard yourself against manipulative people?
Join my live workshop this Friday @ 4PM (BST).
