How to deal with Micro- Aggressions

“Slowly killing with a thousand wounds” Here, the connotation to ‘the thousand wounds’ is to cutting down by subtle criticism, fault finding, blaming, labelling, and putting down a person, eventually depleting all his/her positive energy. This can actually lead to excessive negativity, depression, and lifelessness in a person causing them to quit. This occurs by making subtle remarks which could be taken either way, leading the person confused whether to contest it or not. If contested, the aggressor could easily come out clean by blaming the person commented upon instead, and if left uncontested, leaves the person feeling bad about himself/herself. Either way the aggressor is in control. These are also called micro aggressions. The main reason is usually envy, power hunger and/or unhealthy competition. The aggressor tries to keep himsel/herself in a powerful position. How to not get affected and played by these micro aggressions? I strongly believe in pointing out and double checking what the person means by the remark. The aggressor will usually backtrack and redefine the comment positively. It is also important to be connected with yourself and your own feelings about the comment and act accordingly.

Calling out and setting the issue right away or as soon as possible is the best strategy to overcome the situation. If repeated, it is good to give an ultimatum of a consequence to the micro aggression for the future. For example, it could be breaking contacts if possible, reporting to authorities, not cooperating or likewise.

It is not good to ignore micro-aggressions as they could cause serious harm at a mental and emotional level, which could also affect other aspects of a person’s life.