#382

The more chances you give someone the less respect they'll start to have for you. They'll begin to ignore the standards that you've set because they'll know another chance will always be given. They're not afraid to lose you because they know no matter what you won't walk away. They get comfortable with depending on your forgiveness. Never let a person get comfortable disrespecting you.

Best advice ever. Most of us were raised to give people the benefit of the doubt, everyone deserves a second chance. And many took that advice to heart, maybe to extremes, and gave more and more chances. Always wanting to believe and trust the person, even to their own detriment. They simply did not want to see that the people they allowed in their lives were not who they thought they were.

"There is none so blind as those who will not see" John Heywood

So although this is sound advice and it is good to avoid getting in this deep, it is also a lesson. The lesson you need to learn is: Never let a person get comfortable disrespecting you. The irony of the whole thing is you will stay until you don't. You will be immersed in this lesson until you get it. Until you understand what is missing in you that you would accept disrespect, you will remain, either with this person or the next.

No one can tell another adult what to do. It doesn't matter what you think about your friend that is in one of these relationships. It is up to them, they will do what they do until they don't. That's it. Your job is not to judge, but simply to be there for them throughout the ordeal. Keep your opinions to yourself. It is their path and they are in this place for a good reason. They need to learn to love themselves enough to expect the very best. Until that day comes, they are where they are and you are part of the support system. Be kind.