A relationship is a two-way street. No matter what kind of relationship you are in, you have a say in it. Whether a friend hurts you, a co-worker disrespects you, or someone you are interested in does something to make you uncomfortable, tell them. If you aren't comfortable with something you have the right to talk about it. You might be scared or nervous to say something, but it is for your own good and happiness.
What happens if they don't listen to you and continue to push your respect aside? Leave.
If they can't respect what you have to say or how you feel, then they aren't worth your time. In the past, I always thought I couldn't expect people to change. I recently said that to a friend and her response was, "With this, you can and should!" She wasn't wrong, and that got me thinking that if a person can't change his or her actions to make our relationship better and healthier, then why would you stay around?
If you stay in a relationship or partnership in which you continue to be disrespected or just don't bring it up, things will become challenging. You might start to push them away or you won't bring up how you feel at all. If you can't talk about respect, then what can you talk about? Ultimately, you might not be comfortable in that relationship anymore if you don't bring up how you feel.
If you need some ideas, here is an easy way to tell someone how you feel. You can either talk to them right after the issue comes up or later. Honestly, it might be better to talk about it right away, because if you wait, you might start to overthink. That happens to me. I tend to overthink the entire relationship or I make myself think it was never a big deal and tell myself not to bring it up. I'd start off the conversation by simply saying one of a few things. An easy one-word answer is "stop." That addresses it right away and you can start to explain how the situation made you uncomfortable.
Communication is so important in a relationship, without it everything will fall apart.
