I let people walk all over me.

It's a serious problem and in the past year, it's happened too many times.

Now I don't mean that I lie down on the floor and let people actually walk on top of me. This is the kind of walking where people you consider good friends take advantage of you and manipulate you without you realizing. They treat you with little respect and you let them get away with it without punishment (like ending the friendship).

The reason I let this happen is a complicated one. Too complicated and a little too personal that I would rather not disclose it just yet. Let's just say that it has happened so much that I have normalized it in my head and allowed it to happen. It was not until very recently that I actually started to realize what was happening and took a look at some of the people in my life and how they treat me. The observations were not good.

I can bet that we have all had this experience at some point in our lives and it may influence our later relationships. We pay attention to how our friends treat us and hope that they don't take us for granted. The realization that a friend is doing you wrong is a hard one to think about it but it can open doors to new friends.

This walking all over you can come in all shapes and sizes and can include but is not limited to talking about you behind your back, consistently bailing on plans you make, showing little care or concern for your emotional well-being and using you for some sort of personal gain.

At the end of the day, you are truly your own best friend and when you wake up to finally learn that this is happening to you, there are changes you can make to your friendships and relationships. Trusting people can be hard after being hurt but when you find the right people, it can be like finding two pieces of a puzzle that fit together.

As for me, I'm still weeding out the bad ones but I have found some true winners in friendships and people I will consider friends for life.

You win some and you lose some.