The foundation of any good friendship is mutual respect, and in order to build this respect between two people, different experiences are shared. This can tell us that we can trust somebody because any relationship can soon become dysfunctional if there is no respect.
Everyone has many friends, but there is always the one that you love and would like to spend more time with, yet this friend may sometimes seem a bit off. That is why you may start to get a feeling that they may not like you or that you were never a priority to them. Because of the difference in a few behavioural habits, you start getting signs your friend doesn’t care about you, and this can surely be quite a bad way to feel about someone you love. The following are the hidden signs your friend doesn’t respect you.
They put you down constantly
When you respect your friend, you tend to encourage and support them in their difficult times. You congratulate them and feel proud of them for their achievements. But there are signs someone isn’t your friend by not respecting you, and they often act oppositely.
Such friends will do anything to put you down instead of building you up, especially when you are in gatherings or when other friends are around. This clearly shows that they have lack respect because they are only concerned about making themselves look good, without even getting worried about how it may be affecting your feelings.
They break their promises
A true friend always follows through with the promises that they make to you. Normally these promises are small, like socializing and arranging to meet up, but other times, there can be big promises like agreeing to keep your secret.
If you find your friend not turning up and continuously cancelling the plans at the last minute, or they promise to keep your secret and immediately talk about these with others, then this is one of the many signs your friend doesn’t value you.
You are the one who calls them
One of the most common signs of a one-sided friendship that you may often miss is that you are the one who calls them, but they never call you. Normally you are the one who arranges the meetings, and they never bother to contact you first or plan to meet up.
A friendship that lacks mutual respect has one big exception: such a friend may call you when they need something from you. If they want to borrow money or ride somewhere, they will be happy to call you up, but on the other hand, they will never call you for a chat or hangout, and this is how to tell someone is distancing themselves from you.
They may be jealous of you
There is no doubt that jealousy is an ugly emotion that may not have any place in respectful friendships. It would help if you always were happy when your friend starts a new romantic relationship or gets a promotion at work. Therefore, you want them to do well in their lives and respect them, so you find their achievements positive for them and you.
There will be an opposite reaction of the friends who don’t respect you. They are never invested in your happiness and don’t care about your success. For them, your success may be an attack because they are very self-centred. Their jealousy is among the signs your friend doesn’t value you.
What to do if your friend doesn’t respect you?
Everybody has room for growth, and if you start noticing any signs your friend doesn’t care about you or respect you, it is not always necessary to cut them out right away. It would be best always to try to sit down with your friend and express what you feel. In most cases, when you clearly explain the issues you face with the relationship, they tend to change their behaviour, and you can start over a friendship based on mutual respect.
If things don’t change and such behaviour continues, it becomes very important for you to recognize whether this friendship damages your mental health. With time, you may start to feel that you will be much better without that person in your life. Many other people can be your good friends, so try not to go for those who don’t respect you.
Bottom Line
It is quite sad that most of us may go through a weird phase at least once in our lifetime where we start to feel a little disrespected and neglected and ask why don’t my friends care about me. It may give us a feeling that our friends don’t want to spend time with us or value us. Whatever the reason, we all go through a feeling that a friend doesn’t respect us very much; although this phase seems a little hard, we must keep in mind that we will go through this particular phase.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How to know if your friend doesn’t respect you?
There are always a few signs your friend doesn’t value you. They can be overly demanding, and sometimes they will not allow you to have any free time for yourself. They can easily get jealous and belittle you to make themselves look good in front of other people.
2. What can be an unhealthy friendship?
One of the biggest signs of an unhealthy friendship is that one person has to give a lot more than the other. Healthy friendships are based on mutual respect, but people tend to gossip, spread rumors, and ridicule one another in unhealthy friendships.
3. How to know if your friend respects you?
Honesty is the first sign of a good friendship. In a good friendship, your friend always asks for your opinion, keeps their word and never lies to you.
4. When should one be giving up on a friendship?
Whenever you start feeling that your friendship is consistently one-sided and your friend betrays your trust, then you may start to feel that you should side with a friend who doesn’t respect you. Such a friend will be overly negative, doesn’t keep your secret, and create or attract drama to embarrass you.
