Reasons why you should not react to an insult? Because you will be tempted to reply, to give it back, to have a closure, but hey sometimes it’s not even worth it.
You must have heard the saying about a pig, you must never wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty and he enjoys looking at you. Sometimes the best answer is no answer, the best reaction is no reaction at all.
The one who has no wisdom or is fake to its core of the soul will never truly admit his part of mistakes and will make you feel more unworthy and a piece of trash. Which you are NOT. Remember, someone else’s opinion can never be your reality.
Reasons WHY You Should Not React To An Insult?
How does one deal with an insult? Vilification by own people or being put down by friends? If someone insults you, it affects you and it influences your perspective towards life. It could also lead to lower self-esteem and isolation.
Radhika’s mother in law is someone who feels satisfied when she puts her daughter in law down in any family occasion. Radhika keeps quiet because there are so my people watching both of them, but her toxic mother in law continues to blare and comment on everything she does.
What do you think will happen in such a situation? Possibly Radhika will feel insulted, humiliated, and level the place crying and sobbing. Or she will give it back which will lead to further damage, if you observe, in both cases both of them are not in their mind-frame, the doer and receiver both feel out of the track, it affects internally.
Another example, Rahul’s brother has told him on various occasions, that he can’t even stand him. Very recently in a formal gathering right between the conversation he explodes and tells Rahul that he is good for nothing and he should just get lost. His harsh words broke him and he felt a lack of confidence in facing the same people again.
All this and a lot more, insult and humiliation damages a lot than we could see. Here are the reasons you saw you could have reacted to an insult, but in this blog, we will talk about a few reasons why you should not react to an insult and save some sanity for yourselves.
8 Reasons WHY You Should Not React To An Insult?
Reacting to any action is the most common human nature. We are conditioned and programmed in such a manner that as and when someone insults or humiliates us we lose control. We feel devastated and feel the urge to give it back, prove ourselves right.
People see things using their optics, their filters based on the limited understanding, through the actions they display their attitude, and here are few reasons why you should not react to an insult.
| 1.) To save your sanity |
| 2.) To think rationally |
| 3.) To channelize your energy in the right direction |
| 4.) To disassociate yourself from the situation |
| 5.) To see it is a learning experience |
| 6.) To know the difference between you and them |
| 7.) To accept it as a challenge |
| 8.) To grow through what you go through |
1. To save your sanity
Reacting to an insult is like fighting for self. In the process, it costs us a lot of mental peace and there are hardly any chances that we will succeed in bringing the other person on his/her knees for what they did to us because for them they are right, they did what they intended to.
One of the basic and most important reasons why you should not react to an insult is to save your sanity. With a sane mind you can answer and fight back later, you can take time to introspect and evaluate and then do something about our situation.
2. To think rationally
When our mind is clouded with anger, disgust, and frustration we lose focus on the things that matter. To think rationally and be able to cope up with a negative situation, we must try to not get into dirty arguments.
It happened with me very recently where I could have lost my temper and give a nice lecture to someone who broke my trust and demeaned me, but instead, I choose to keep quiet, think and act on the thing that needed my immediate attention. Giving too much attention to them would only make them feel superior.
3. To channelize your energy in the right direction
One of the crucial reasons why you should not react to an insult is that it takes away your energy from you, which you could have applied t do things that spark joy in your daily life.
Either I can go behind seeking revenge, vengeance, or I can channelize my energy in prooving myself right in my view, not for others.
4. To disassociate yourself from the situation
When you step out of your situation and then try to see the whole incident you disassociate yourself from the problem and see it as a third-person, when you see it as a third-person, it helps you loosen up and you become a little more flexible with your actions.
When you decide not to give it back through words, you focus on your actions and it helps you to overcome the incident.
5. To see it is a learning experience
Every experience, whether it is good or bad, has some learning to offer. Another reason why you should not react to an insult immediately is to see it is a learning experience and leave the incident there.
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6. To know the difference between you and them
The one you demeans you, insults you is mostly a person who is insecure, adamant, and ignorant. So whenever you meet a person who insults you, no matter how much it might hurt you, remember it is about them and not you.
It is not your actions but their guilty-conscious which makes them do such things.
7. To accept it as a challenge
Yes, the biggest gift we can give to ourselves is to see things like these as a challenge and accept it, take it in our stride. Work on it. There are only two possibilities after every setback, either we go into darkness or we come back even stronger and the later one is a little harder road to travel, but once you choose this road you will stop for nothing.
8. To grow through what you go through
I had a major setback which I mentioned earlier also, I took me time to process the whole incident. I soaked myself at the moment and took a break. But I made sure that when I come back, I make sure that it should be visible and the energy I saved in not indulging into an argument or giving it back, helped me to regain my lost balance quickly. It helped me to reclaim my composure and yes I did bounce back.
To conclude, I would say that we cannot control how others treat us. We can’t control their actions and their opinions about us, but we can certainly control how we choose to react to their drama, their insecurity. Our reaction can change the whole story. So these were my reasons why you should not react to an insult, I hope you find them useful and if you have anything which worked for you, do share with me. Rise up!
Priyanka Nair is the author of 26 Days 26 Ways for a Happier you and Ardhaviram. An NLP practitioner and Founder of Sanity Daily, helping you prioritize your mental health. Let’s build a happy community.
