“Sorry, you’re not qualified in this basketball try-outs. We need someone taller.”
“Hey you, bring this over there. You look like a water boy anyway.”
“Don’t even bother applying for that job. You’re too old for it!”
“I was going to assign the work to you, but I know that you’re a single mom. I know that you won’t be able to focus on it.”
“No wonder that car is moving so slow. The driver is a woman!”
Have you ever experienced being treated unfairly because of your age, gender, physical features, religion, race/color, disability, or your past?
What did you feel? It hurt a lot, didn’t it?
I used to feel exactly that way when I was in high school. I felt like an outcast. I felt looked down on. Why? Because I wasn’t rich like my classmates. That was when I started asking myself, “Is it my fault that I am poor?”
There are people who are just simply critical of others. These are the people who think of themselves and their lives as “perfect”. And so, when they see people who are not like them, they ridicule them, criticize them, and treat them unfairly.
Unfairness is a reality in this world. Being unfair is one attitude among people that is difficult to change. But, instead of doing the same to others, avenging yourself, or allowing yourself to lose to the situation because you feel like you have no choice but to accept that “Life is unfair”, you need to realise that YOU CAN DO SOMETHING.
What are the things that you can do when you are being treated unfairly by a family member, a friend, a colleague, or even a stranger?
- BE STRONGFace it and be brave about it. Strengthen your resolve in your strengths and abilities.
Just because other people are treating you unfairly, it doesn’t mean that you are a loser. To start with, we are all special and created uniquely. And so, whatever it is that you are hearing from other people, let it enter one ear, and exit through the other ear. Don’t allow yourself to be affected by any of it.
Never allow yourself to look down on yourself. Instead, embrace who you are, and maximize what you have been blessed with. Use your situation as a motivation. Prove to others and yourself that what they are saying about you is not true.
The best revenge is to prove others wrong.
- BE AN INSPIRATION TO OTHERSLike what others always say, it’s different to change something that someone has already gotten so used to. Well, the truth is, it’s really a common situation to see other people treat others unfairly. You will see this anywhere and everywhere you go.
So what you can do is this: DO NOT BE LIKE THEM. Show others exactly how a person is to be treated and respected.
- THE SOLUTION IS WITHIN YOUDon’t put all your hopes in the fact that the people around you will change. If you do this, you will only get disappointed.
Instead of pitying yourself, wasting your time blaming the people around you, being angry and bitter, or thinking of ways on how to get even with the people who are treating you unfairly, choose to spend your time to be positive. Choose to look for ways on how you can provide a solution to your situation. Don’t waste your time allowing the negative people around you to influence you and bring you down with all their judgments and criticisms. Focus your time and energy to look for the solution to your situation.
- CRY OUT TO GODThe easiest form of expression when we’re hurt or when we’re in pain is to cry it all out. It’s OK to release your frustrations in life. You can pray and cry out to God. The good news is that even if others may look down on you and belittle you, God will never do that. He will never abandon you, but instead He will encourage and empower you to be the best person that you can be.
I hope this blog was able to help you realise that you can do something in situations when you are being treated unfairly. It is time to get hold of yourself, and handle situations like these well by facing it like a mature person.
It’s time to fight. Take heart!
THINK. REFLECT. APPLY.
Why were you treated unfairly?
How will you face it if it happens again?
What are your strengths that you can focus on?
(Chinkee Tan is a top Filipino motivational speaker, wealth and life coach whose goal is to inform, educate, motivate, and disturb. His vision is to help people become financially-literate and debt-free. For more info about Chinkee Tan, please visit his fan page at FB, Twitter and Instagram. Also follow VIBER PUBLIC CHAT GROUP search chinkee tan, and VISIONCHINKEE on You Tube for more news and encouragements.)
