Overcoming Disrespect by Reassigning Importance | Generated by AI
Here’s a clear English translation and explanation of the core idea in that Weibo post:
Translation (natural and accurate):
“From time to time, people tell me they’re struggling with ‘lack of respect’—colleagues at work disrespect them and they don’t know how to deal with it. I’ve also felt hurt by disrespect in work and life before. Of course, online disrespect is even worse, but now those people’s behavior has absolutely no effect on me anymore.
How did I reach this point?
If someone’s disrespect actually affects you emotionally, it usually means that deep in your subconscious, you still feel you need their respect. Why do you need their respect? Because, in your mind, they still ‘matter,’ they still have ‘status.’ Even if you consciously deny it, your subconscious and your reactions show that you care.
Once you clearly see who they really are, you’ll instantly realize: you don’t need respect from this kind of person at all. So no matter what they say, it simply stops mattering.
Would I care if some random thug on the street disrespected me? Of course not. A person who doesn’t know how to respect others is simply ill-bred—they’re not even functioning members of society. So why would you care what they say? Whatever comes out of their mouth is meaningless. You don’t need to pay attention to it, and you don’t need to try to understand it.
When you see through all their titles and façades, truly recognize their essence and their intentions, and psychologically downgrade them to the level of ‘street thug,’ their words lose all power over you. What they say becomes like code that fails static checking—it never even gets executed in your brain.
You don’t need to do anything about it. You don’t need to prove anything to them or show them anything. Because to you, they and everything about them have become completely irrelevant.”
Core psychological insight explained in simple English:
The moment someone’s disrespect stops hurting you is the moment you stop assigning them importance or authority in your mind.
As long as you (often unconsciously) believe that this person is “above” you, or that their opinion is valuable, or that you need their approval to feel okay about yourself, their disrespect will sting.
But once you truly see them for who they are—petty, immature, rude, insecure, or simply not worth your time—and you internally reclassify them as someone who has no real status or credibility in your world, their words lose all emotional weight. It’s not that you fight them or argue with them; it’s that their opinion becomes as irrelevant as a random drunk yelling on the street.
This is an internal demotion: you strip away the imaginary “rank” you had given them in your head. After that, disrespect from them feels like nothing, because you no longer see them as someone qualified to judge you.
In short: People can only rent space in your head if you keep giving them the keys. Take the keys back, and they’re powerless.