Let’s not beat around the bush.
Most of us encounter someone who tries to manipulate us every single day.
After all, some people are deceitful and ruthless.
They’ll do whatever they can to take advantage of others and get ahead in life.
But it doesn’t mean that it always works.
And it’s much less likely to work on someone with a strong personality.
They stand their ground and won’t take sh*t from anyone.
So in this article, I’m going to go over the traits of someone with a strong personality who can’t be manipulated by others.
If you find that you yourself have these traits, then you probably have a strong personality that people struggle to take advantage of.
1. You firm on your boundaries
Even if you have some edgy personality traits, you know yourself and what your boundaries are.
You’re willing to help others, but you won’t do something that jeopardizes your integrity.
If someone tries to overstep the mark and take advantage of you, you’ll recognize it immediately.
You have a strong sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, and you won’t bend to someone’s will if it crosses the line of your personal integrity.
You’re not in the business of running around trying to people-please all day. You know what your limits are.
Manipulators are always on the lookout for people-pleasers because they take advantage of their kindness.
But you don’t have to help others to earn praise from them. Seeking validation isn’t on your agenda.
Instead, you help others when it’s the right thing to do.
You stick to your values, and if other people are scared of you, then that’s their problem.
2. You have a strong moral framework
Nobody can tell you what’s right and wrong. You know what you stand for and what your beliefs are.
A person who is out to manipulate will have a hard time convincing you to do something that doesn’t feel right.
You rely on your strong sense of right and wrong to work out if some have good intentions or not.
Because you trust your intuition, you recognize quickly when someone is stepping out of line.
What’s even better is that you’re not afraid to tell them that they’re stepping out of line as well.
3. You know what you want in life
You’re firm on what your goals in life are. From a very young age, you’ve had a strong sense of knowing which direction you’re headed in.
And as you’ve gotten older, you’ve become even more sure of your direction in life.
When you’ve got your eyes set firmly in one direction, it’s difficult for someone to sway you in a different direction.
It’s impossible for someone to manipulate you because it will take you from where you want to go in life.
You won’t waver or believe what someone is saying unless it benefits where you’re heading in life.
Some people call it selfish, but the truth is this:
You’re on a mission to achieve your goals and achieving those goals will help the people closest to you.
And they’re the people you care about most.
4. You’ve learned from your mistakes
We all make mistakes in life, but what separates mentally strong people is that they’ve learned from those mistakes.
You’ve always been able to reflect on something that went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
This is important when it comes to dealing with someone who is trying to take advantage of you.
You’ve encountered people who have tried to manipulate you in the past and you’ve learned how to counteract every little trick in their dirty book.
In other words, those few people that took advantage of you early on in your life taught you valuable lessons about who you can trust and who you can’t.
Now you can sniff a manipulator’s sh*t from a mile away.
If they’re going to try and take advantage of you, you’re already prepared with how you’ll retaliate.
This is also why you find it difficult to understand people who go around in circles, never learning from their past mistakes and repeating the same behaviors over and over.
For you, life is about growth and learning so you can become a better person.
5. You don’t seek validation from others
As we mentioned above, you’re not in the business of pleasing others. You don’t need external validation from others to feel better about yourself.
Rather than running around mad trying to please everyone, you’re not afraid to ruffle a few feathers if it means you’re staying true to who you are.
When someone is completely authentic and comfortable with who you are, it’s practically impossible to manipulate them.
They can’t prey on your need to seek validation from outside forces, because you’re already validated with who you are deep down.
This is not to say that you don’t treat people with respect, but you’re not going to sacrifice your own beliefs and values to get ahead.
You come as you are, and if other people don’t like it, well, then that’s their problem.
But this also means you’re quite picky about who you let you into your inner circle.
You don’t easily trust others, because you know there is deceivers and manipulators behind the kindest of smiles.
6. You have built a huge wall to protect yourself
You’ve been through a lot in life, dealt with shady characters who have tried to bring you down, and you’ve decided that you don’t want to go through the same hardships again.
To some people, you can appear cold, ruthless, and darn right mean.
But this is how you must behave if you’re going to avoid the assholes who take advantage of you whenever they get the chance.
It’s part of your nature now.
This is why manipulators struggle to take advantage of you – they can’t get close to you in the first place!
While it may be difficult to get close to you, it also means that you have an incredibly close relationship with those who are lucky enough to be in your inner circle.
You protect each other and you won’t let anyone in your tight-knit group that has shady intentions.
7. You don’t care about what other people think
You don’t live your life for other people, so why in the hell would you care what other people think?
You’re concerned with your own life and getting the most out of it.
This also means that you don’t have the same vulnerability that other people have.
You see, most people change their behavior in order to be accepted by the crowd, and manipulators use this as a way to get what they want from you.
But they can’t use validation from others as a way to get at you. You’re focused on yourself and living up to your standards of behavior.
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