Would you permit a man or woman you didn’t like to show up
in your home and help his or herself to the food in your refrigerator, take
whatever he or she wanted out of your children’s rooms, and go rummaging
through your drawers and closets? Of
course, you wouldn’t but so many men and women in dysfunctional relationships
are allowing people they secretly don’t like or know well to take advantage of
them because they are “family.”
When does one ever say, “No!
I will not put up with this and I don’t care who you are in my
life!” Over and over again people are
hurt not by people they don’t know, but people who they know by a title: spouse,
mother, father, sister, brother, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. Other relatives who know of a family falling
out will encourage the used and abused to “forgive, go back, let by-gones, be
by-gones…what would Jesus do?” and any other statement that creates a sense of
guilt in the victim. So like a
merry-go-round ride that never seems to end so too are these relationships with
toxic family members and friends.
Hurt yet again, the daughter keeps showing up to get yet
another dose of her mother’s insults.
Depressed again and a nephew drags his feet to the residence of an aunt
and uncle, who are mentally disturbed, to witness yet another despicable
act. They are told to “help, to be
there…they need you” by so-called good relatives and friends. “you will be
blessed if you do. Mom will remember you
in her will. You know your kin will help
you when you need them.” Yet, for many
victims the so-called “reward” or “blessing” never paid out nearly as much as
it should have for all the pain and suffering one endured having gone through
another emotionally and or physically abusive event. Would God ever tell his children to go back
to evil? He frees people from mental and
physical bondage and moves them forward as we see in biblical stories such as
the Exodus in the Old Testament Bible for starters.
Unhealthy dysfunctional relationships wreck havoc on your
personal and professional lives. Toxic
relatives and friends call, when you least expect it, to deliver most often
negative news while criticizing you for “not being there” and “you should help,
because that is your family.” Before long
the victim, who may have once been emotionally and physically free from the
power and control, is back in bondage.
The cycle continues until the victim chooses to no longer succumb to
guilt-trips, ignoring or threatening behavior from controlling relatives and
friends.
Some things that you can do who is in currently in a
dysfunctional relationship:
1) Express your
concern to relatives about their request/proposal/behavior. Tell them that you cannot help and don’t
bother listing a myriad of reasons, simply let your “no” mean “no” even if they
refuse to take it for answer.
2) Threatening or
violent relatives keep yourself, pets and children away. If you live with them, begin to plan your
exit plan where you are no longer relying on them for anything. You wouldn’t accept a stranger abusing you or
your family, so why allow them to abuse you?
3) Seek counselors
who can help you with things like: responding differently to controlling
relatives and friends, read media like this to keep you encouraged to develop
distance and be open to connecting with positive people while disconnecting
from the negative ones.
What has it been like lately for you? Have you found yourself going above and
beyond for needy relatives and friends only to be ridiculed, shamed, or
violently assaulted for not doing more?
If you have recently put a stop to the manipulative tactics of toxic
family and friends, do share your experience in the comments below.
Nicholl McGuire is the owner of this blog and the author of Tell Me Mother You're Sorry, When Mothers Cry and other nonfiction books.
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