A lesson I learned while being a facilitator of a support group years ago. While it wasn’t recently, it’s a perspective sharing.
I seen first hand that someone else’s negative behavior is about them, and that their treatment of you is a reflection of their character, NOT YOUR WORTH.
So many times in life we personalize or internalize other people’s behavior. Whether it’s to seek approval, avoid conflict, or please others, or a learned behavior from childhood where they have a big sense of responsibility, or learned because of emotional neglect or codependency.
Regardless of the why, internalizing other people’s behavior is exhausting. Taking on someone else’s emotions gets us out of our own emotional development.
We are not responsible for other people’s feelings, how they react to us or how they treat us. Learning this is important for our own emotional well-being and self-worth.
We are only responsible for our emotions, behaviors, and actions. Another’s behavior is a mirror of how they feel about themselves, perceive the world, or a demonstration of where they lack skills to cope.
From Pity to Praise 