Toxic people and gaslighting
Awareness is the first step in healing.
You know what they did was wrong.
You know what they said was wrong.
You know it was hurtful.
You know such behavior is unacceptable.
You have to understand that people gaslight you in order to not feel bad about themselves. They invalidate your emotions and totally deny having done what they did because they simply can’t accept that they were wrong and don’t want to look like a bad person.
Gaslighting creates confusion and frustration. It really messes with your head. Even when you know the truth, you start questioning your own reality. You start questioning if it really happened the way you remember it or you were just over-reacting.
Toxic people can never take responsibility for their own actions. They will even play the victim card if needed and blame you for making them behave the way they did. You don’t deserve this kind of emotional abuse.
Most people are unable to make sense of all this when its happening to them. Developing resilience and being immune to gaslighting takes time.
It always begins with awareness.
Start noticing their actions instead of believing their preachy words. Start noticing if they really possess the values they claim to have.
Just because you are a good-hearted person who believes in forgiving and forgetting, don’t let such toxic people take advantage of your kindness and manipulate you all the time.
You need to protect your mental health at all costs. Avoid people and situations that pose a threat to your mental well-being.
Awareness about gaslighting and other manipulative toxic behaviors will help you identify these sooner the next time you face it and you will know how to handle it better.
You will know how you don’t have to give the benefit of doubt to everyone all the time especially if they keep trying to justify their actions instead of making an effort to change those toxic behaviors.
Toxic is toxic. Period.
