Treatment

I was on the phone with one of my girls last night and she told me that one of our other friends was seeing some hardcore rapper along with another person. In her voice, I could tell she was a tad bit annoyed, but played it off like it was cool for the sake of our friend. She told me that she will no longer stress herself over the guys we date. If we like him, she will support us as a friend but still give her opinion. After all, we are adults and the decision is ultimately up to us. I told her that her opinion is valuable to me to an extent because I know that she wants the best for all of us, but I understood completely what she was saying. That is when she said "men will only treat you the way you allow them to." I have heard this saying for a long time, but it never really sank into my mind until last night. I reflected back to when the men I dealt with in the past did me wrong. I have allowed for them to mistreat me and get away with disrespecting me.
A man has never harmed me physically, but they did emotionally by playing mind games. One thing I know for sure, a man will never beat me. He will go straight to jail and I will not bail him out. He will find someone else who will do that for him and I will put a restraining order against him if he is out. In order to avoid these situations, I must choose positive men to surround myself with.

I realized at that point that I need to woman up and speak my mind. Being scared is getting old and it is never a good route to take with anyone. On the other hand, do I blame myself completely for how I was done wrong? Nope, I sure don't. Why make excuses for him or be too lenient. We are both adults and he should have known better, as well. Besides, karma should not be played with, since it has horrible effects. Not only that, but it catches up to you.
What I have decided to do is to avoid ways that will set me up for failure with men and life.