I’m realizing something about people who do guilt trips. You know, situations where you’re feeling guilty because the other person gave you a guilt trip about wanting what you want or doing what you want to do. A guilt trip is different from someone saying, “Hey, I don’t like what you did!” It’s passive aggressive and meant to make you feel bad about yourself and therefore conform to the other person’s wishes instead of your own. You know what I’m talking about. The reality is:
Not Everybody is Willing to Give a Guilt Trip.
Not everybody has that passive aggressive quality to their personality. Some people like to manipulate in that way, though. They like to dig in and see if they can make you feel bad. Others never would. There’s people who do that on a regular basis, and there’s people who just don’t ever do it. If you’re kind of person who doesn’t ever do it, people get that about you pretty much immediately, and guilt-trippers peg you as a potential victim right away. The people who do it seldom receive it, and the people who receive it, seldom do it.
A Guilt Trip is Just a Type of Bullying
When they guilt trip you, they’re bullying you. Meaning: they have a special power and are attacking someone that’s weaker in that power. In this case, the special power is the skill of and willingness to guilt trip. The joy of manipulation. That’s their power, and they use it because they know the other person will never use it back on them. Knowing it only goes one way, they have the advantage. That’s why it’s never a question of, “Oh gee, have I done something wrong?” Whether or not you have, you’re still being manipulated. And that’s not a rational way for someone to make a point.