How to Identify When You're Being Used

No one likes to feel like they are being used. This e-how article is on identifying the signs of a user so you can avoid and stop being a doormat today.

Instructions

1. The first sign that you might be getting used in a friendship or in a relationship is the subject of CONVENIENCE. Does the person in question only come around when it is convenient for them to do so? Are you always on their schedule and never on your own? If you are always catering to another person and never find any of your own gestures returned, then you are most likely a doormat. Loving relationships are ones of balance and if that person cannot be there for you, then it's time to discontinue the relationship.

2. Ask yourself, "Is this person IN-FLEXIBLE?" A person who always has to do things their way and who can never adjust to accommodate you is selfish and most likely using you. If they are incapable of bending to your needs, desires and standards then their intentions need to be questioned. The treatment you put into a relationship is the treatment you should get out of it. If this is not happening then you should have suspicions that you're a doormat.

3. A user can come in various forms. There are financial users, emotional users and what I like to call "get-a-head users." Financial users are always inconveniently out of money. Whenever you're with them, you find yourself paying each time. They will always have an excuse why they can't pay, or they may make promises to pay at later times but never do. An emotional user will constantly need your shoulder to cry on but will never offer there's. Over time they will drain you emotionally.

4. The get-a-head user types are the ones who use to drain information, knowledge, resources and contacts to get a head in their career. They'll ride on the backs of others and their relationship with you is just a means to an end. The trick to overcome these three types of users is to recognize the signs and characteristics early and be able to exhibit the strength and fortitude of self-love to break yourself away from them. You are only a doormat if you allow yourself to be.

5. If you are ever in a non-reciprocal relationship (be it friendship or romantic) and you find yourself questioning the intentions of the other person, then chances are great you're being used. Get out today before greater damage is done.