Remember this when you’re feeling taken for granted
One of the biggest gifts of learning to come out of my early twenties was a realisation of how much I dislike being taken for granted. It was a phase with a great many significant events; a career peppered with booms and busts characteristic of the dot.com era, financial impudence and imprudence, parenthood in my early twenties and marriage and divorce before the age of 30.
I learned many things about myself. That I hate being taken for granted was a big one.
I’m not particularly hung up on being shown gratitude. I appreciate good manners, but I’ve only really learned in my forties the genuine power and meaning of gratitude in life and I don’t think ingratitude from others is the issue. I’ve demonstrated a desire to serve, to please and to do more for others than I expect in return, throughout life. I’m certainly no saint, but I’ve never expected others to do things for me in order to justify me doing something for them. In fact, I’m terrible at taking help(and especially bad at asking for it).
The adverse feelings manifest when I feel that my interests, opinions and modest requests I make of others aren’t taken seriously or are paid lip-service without apparent concern. The anger strikes when my reasonable needs and desires aren’t seemingly treated as credible or serious.
