Treat Others How You Want to be Treated

If there is one thing I know that sucks, it is being ignored. Everyone matters and everyone is important. Don’t ignore people, that’s flat out rude and shows the content of your character. When you ignore someone you are literally looking past them and dismissing their very existence. Sometimes this may be what you do when you don’t want to speak to someone for a specific reason. However, if you are in a conversation or in a room and don’t address someone with a simple “Hello” or even a smile, you can come off as being arrogant and rude. How would you feel if the person being ignored was you or someone you love and care about? The worse thing you can do to someone is make them feel like they don’t belong or like they are not important. The feeling of being ignored is a blow to a person’s self esteem, this type of pain is worse than any physical pain one could experience, which can lead to feeling unimportant. Your act of ignoring this person has the ability to affect them without you even knowing it, that’s why it’s important to pay attention to those around you. Think for the moment what effect ignoring a child would do to them in the long run. If this child was ignored, they would not think of themselves as being important and they would more than likely feel it is difficult to find their voice in a larger group. Everyone’s opinions are valuable, we need to promote unity and not exclude anyone no matter who they are.

I have been in situations where I’ve been ignored and it did not make me feel welcomed, or confident in my ability to engage in conversation. I’m not very outspoken, so when I am ignored I curl up within my own thoughts and I begin to think that there’s no point in voicing my opinion. I was hanging out with a group of people and there was this one person in the group who was taking up the entire conversation not allowing ANYONE else to contribute. When I decided to voice my opinion, no one acknowledged the fact that I had even said anything. This made me feel like what I had to say wasn’t very important. I removed myself from the group because they obviously didn’t care enough to hear me, which made my self esteem plummet and it’s moments like this that discourage me from voicing what I have to say. If someone in the group acknowledged me, I would have felt included and it would have given me the courage to continue engaging with the group. But no, instead I felt like an outcast and removed myself from everyone and the conversation taking place. Everyone is important and no one should feel like they are excluded. If you notice that someone is being ignored or their opinion is being overlooked, be the catalyst that brings about their voice and includes them in the conversation.

Treat others how you want to be treated. If YOU do not like to be ignored then chances are that everyone around you doesn’t want to be ignored either. Everyone is important and everyone has a voice, don’t be the one to tune them out, instead encourage them to speak up. When you walk out of a room, how do you want to be remembered? As the person who equally listened to everyone and encourage others to join in? Or the person who took up all the attention and ignored those around you? Ignoring people shows others who you are beneath the surface. Think about how your actions affect others’ self esteem and self worth. Spread positivity and inspire others to be heard.

Notice people