There are always motives and emotions behind the attacks of every bully.
Have you ever wondered why bullies are so aggressive with you when they could care less about you? You understand that when someone doesn’t care a lick about you, they show no emotion, positive or negative. In other words, they’re indifferent.
However, when the bully is aggressive, it shows that they are bothered by something about you, whether it’s something you said, did, or conveyed. It could be your very presence that might bother the person.
Whatever the case may be, that something about you is motivating the attacks and aggression. But realize this, it’s not that they care one iota about you. What they do care about, however, is the possibility of your taking your power back from them and becoming independent of their thoughts and opinions of you.
Here are 3 motives and emotions behind a bully’s attacks.
1.Fear
Bullies fear losing power over you. Whether it’s physical attacks or smearing and trying to cancel you, every bit of it is only proof that they feel threatened. Moreover, your bullies feel that they’re losing the battle for power or are about to lose. Therefore, they double down on attacking you to reinforce their power over you and keep you under their thumb. This often comes in the form of retaliation because you stood up to them and defended yourself. And the only way to discourage you from fighting back is to retaliate with greater force.
Why? Because if you stand your ground and begin refusing their attempts to walk on you. You just might start a huge trend and inspire others to do the same, causing the bullies to lose respect, status, and authority (power).
2. Resentment and Revenge
Again. When you defend yourself against a bully’s attacks or demands, bullies will often retaliate. And they do it not only to subdue you and keep you under their power, but they also do it out of revenge. Anytime you stand up to bullies, they will often try to get back at you for it. Understand that bullies are entitled little twits. They need gratification and satisfaction, and when you refuse to give it to them, they will resent you and desire to punish you for it.
3. Deception
Bullies have an image to keep up and they want to look tough. In other words, the bullies are trying like the devil to cover up the fact that you’re winning the power war against them. Think about it. If you were truly losing, they would act indifferent toward you. Your bullies wouldn’t need to become aggressive and go on the attack because you would be no threat to them nor the image they portray in public.
Therefore, they wouldn’t give you the time of day. Bullies, particularly the narcissistic type, always discard those they deem to be losers. On the other hand, threats must be contained. Those they see as threats are a lot of hard work for bullies. They require many attacks for the bullies to restore their power, be that power image, social status, or even physical status.
So, if a bully is incessantly attacking you, it isn’t because there is anything wrong with you and it isn’t because you’re weak. It’s because you somehow pose a threat to them, and that threat may or may not be so obvious. It may be very subtle. For example, the bully may pick up on something that isn’t so visible, maybe an inner strength you have that they can’t quite put their finger on.
With knowledge comes empowerment!