There are tons of toxic people in this world and the more they work to manipulate us the more aware of them we need to become. While you might not be able to spot these people in your life right now, I can almost guarantee there is at least one far closer than you would like for them to be in your circle. 

In this world, most of us at least have one person who is trying to work to manipulate us. This person is someone who pretends to have your best interests in mind all the while working to control you and gain whatever he or she can through using you to his or her advantage. These people should not be in our close circles and we should be distancing ourselves from them. However, we cannot distance ourselves from them unless we are able to spot them. 

Below I am going to go over some of the signs that could indicate someone close to you is trying to manipulate you. These signs should not go overlooked. If these signs are present in regards to a specific person, you need to reevaluate their presence in your life.

7 Signs That Someone Is Manipulating You:

1. This person is always playing with your emotions.

When someone is trying to manipulate you they will play with your emotions. Instead of taking your feelings into consideration they will use them against you. They want you to feel as if you’re hurting them even when you’re not so that they can get what they want.

2. This person always makes you out to be the ‘bad guy.’

Those who try to manipulate you might make you out to be a bad person time after time. When they do something to hurt you they will turn things around and make it seem as if you’ve done something wrong even if you haven’t. The more you try to address the issue the more they will work to flip things around.

3. This person’s actions don’t match their words.

People who want to manipulate us will say the best things and build you up in ways that others won’t but they also don’t follow through with their words in their actions. They will say one thing and do another. The more you ask of them the less you will receive.

4. This person makes you feel responsible for their emotions.

Manipulative people will go out of their way to make sure they’re making you feel like you’re the one responsible for their emotional state. They will do the most to make you feel like you’re breaking them down by not giving in to the things they want or might think they need. While they’re the ones working themselves up they will project this kind of thing onto you as much as they possibly can.

5. This person is constantly giving you ultimatums.

When someone in your life is manipulating you they will never be willing to compromise. Things will always be ‘my way or the highway’ with them. The more you try to make things even, the harder they will push in the other direction.

6. This person uses your insecurities against you.

Manipulative people will get close to you so that they can learn your insecurities and weaknesses. This is because they know they can use those things to gain more control over you. They will bring up the things that bother you the most in order to break you down as much as possible.

7. This person never wants to wait for you to think things through.

When manipulative people want something done they will make it seem as though there is no time for you to even think about whether or not you want to follow through. They bring these things to you with a sense of urgency so that they can convince you to do them. That is because they do not want you to decide against what they want.

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/communication-success/201406/how-spot-and-stop-manipulators

https://psychcentral.com/lib/how-to-spot-manipulation/