Dear Capo:

You are welcome. You wrote in your original post: “Sometimes I think when people are being kind that they’re setting me up. They want something from me or they’re pulling a prank on me, and if I don’t test them first, I deserve anything that they bestow on me. Needless to say, this is pretty isolating, and leads me to not even really trust my own judgments.” In your second post, you wrote: “It’s a hard notion to escape, that people are out to take what they can from you and are looking for someone to exploit, even if it’s poking fun at you for a little ego boost. Somehow. It makes starting interactions difficult”-

I think this is a very significant issue standing in your way and I think you will benefit from understanding it more thoroughly. For that purpose (and for my own understanding), I ask:

What previous experiences specifically (with the bullies/ other people in your life, family perhaps), were such that you were set up, used, and exploited?

anita