Every relationship is unique, and just not in good ways.
When two people join for life, it’s not all sunshine and roses.
Here are the top signs that your partner considers themselves superior to you and how you can respond effectively and with the utmost self-respect and dignity.
12 signs your partner looks down on you (and what to do about it)
If this is happening to you, then you definitely have a problem.
Watch out for these signs.
1) They talk to you
Talking to someone is one of the worst things to happen in some relationships.
It’s not just romantic relationships, of course.
This occurs in family relationships, friendships, work interactions, and many other situations.
This is one of the most disturbing signs that your partner looks down on you:
They talk to you like you’re an idiot, a nobody, an afterthought.
Their voice carries a note of extreme weariness when talking to you, but restores normality in conversation with others.
There could be many reasons for this including them being in a bad mood, but when you notice this happening a lot and it’s an ongoing trend, don’t write it off as no big deal.
It’s a big deal.
Like it or not, you’ve been relegated to a place where you’re an underdog bitch in this relationship.
Your partner looks down on you, or at least definitely acts like they do.
not good!
2) They ignore you
Another disturbing sign your partner is looking at you is that they are ignoring you, sometimes for weeks or even months at a time.
Aside from a quick “hello,” they look right through you.
You might as well be a ghost.
Of course there are reasons why this happens, and getting caught up in constant attention has its not-so-attractive side.
If this is happening to you, it is crucial that you try to reach out to your partner and ask them what is going on.
Let them know that you feel the desire for more communication and interaction, and that you understand that this is a challenge for them at the moment.
If your partner is very busy or going through a rough time, hopefully, they’ll open up to you.
If they just look at you and find you annoying to interact with this, they are also likely to walk out and the relationship will generally end.
3) They leave you confused
Among the worst things about a partner who thinks they are on another level to you is the sense of confusion it can generate.
You wonder why they don’t seem to care about you or want to be with you anyway if they think you’re bullshit.
It’s a good question!
As this article explores the key signs your partner feels over you, it may be helpful to talk to a relationship coach about your situation.
With the Professional Relationship Coach, you can get advice specific to your life and experiences…
Relationship Hero is a site where highly trained relationship coaches help people through complex and difficult love situations, such as falling in love with someone who feels better or on a higher level than you.
It’s a very popular resource for people facing this kind of challenge.
How do I know?
Well, I reached out to them a few months ago when I was going through a difficult issue in my own relationship.
After losing my thoughts for so long, they gave me a unique insight into the dynamics of my relationship and how to get it back on track.
I was blown away by how kind, sympathetic and really helpful my instructor was.
In just a few minutes, you can connect with a certified relationship coach and get advice tailored to your situation.
4) They flirt with others
Another annoying sign your partner looks down on is that they flirt with others, sometimes right in front of you.
Talk about disrespect!
The least anyone can do if they are in a relationship with you is respect your time and love for them by not showing more interest in others than you do.
This type of flirtatious behavior is often accompanied by comments about the attractiveness or intelligence and charm of others.
There is no mention of your charm and attractiveness.
A little flirtation or pointing out that someone else is super attractive never hurts anyone, but it’s a whole lot different to openly try to woo someone else in front of you.
If they are doing that, then you have some real issues to worry about in this relationship.
Whether they cheat is another question worth asking and investigating…
What is certain is that they tell you that they find others more attractive than you and they don’t respect you enough to even hide it.
This is very frustrating and is a sign that your partner considers themselves superior to you!
5) They treat you as a backup option
6) They make you “work” for their attention
Attention and love do not come as an unlimited resource, but if your partner gives you the impression that you have to “earn” their love and respect, then they are engaging in truly harmful behavior.
This is not a healthy relationship and it will not bring out the best in you.
The more you work, the lower your self-esteem will be as you constantly compete for your partner’s approval against a host of other factors.
The basic idea is simple:
They use your love for them to power you.
Then they put hoops for you to jump through which always turns out you’re not good enough at doing it.
How can you win?
Sometimes just to leave!
7) They bring out your worst traits
Another sign that your partner looks down on you is that they bring out your worst traits.
When you are around them you become in some way toxic or unsafe and you are not sure why.
Here’s why…
Have you ever asked yourself why love is so difficult?
Why isn’t it what you imagined growing up to be? Or at least make sense…
We’ve all been there: confused as hell, feeling let down and bound to someone but not quite sure if they really feel the same…
When you’re dealing with a partner who makes you feel unworthy, it’s easy to feel frustrated and even helpless. You might even be tempted to throw in the towel and give up on love.
I want to suggest doing something different.
It’s something I learned from the world-famous shaman Rhoda Ayandi. It taught me that the way to find love and intimacy is not what we have been culturally conditioned to believe.
In fact, many of us have been self-sabotaging and deceiving ourselves for years, getting in the way of meeting a partner who can truly fulfill our needs.
As Rudá explains in this mind blowing free video, many of us chase love in a toxic way that ends up stabbing us in the back.
We get stuck in awful relationships or empty encounters, never find what we’re really looking for and continue to feel terrible about things like feeling powerless and weak in the relationship.
We fall in love with a perfect version of someone instead of the real person.
We try to “fix” our partners and end up destroying relationships.
We try to find someone to “complete” us, only to fall apart with them next to us and feel twice as bad.
Rhoda’s teachings showed me a whole new perspective.
While watching, I felt like someone understood my struggles to find and nurture love for the first time—and finally offered an actual, practical solution to a critical, unloving partner who sends mixed messages about his interest in us.
If you’re done with unsatisfying dating, empty relationships, frustrated relationships, and having your hopes dashed over and over again, this is a message you need to hear.
I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
8) They use jealousy as a tool against you
Jealousy is the powerful force that can erode even the smartest, most loving relationships.
At the heart of jealousy is another emotion:
afraid.
Fear of not being good enough…
Fear of loneliness…
Fear of letting go…
These feelings of our primitive, infant selves keep coming back and it can be very difficult to handle and deal with as adults.
Many adults struggle with the patterns imprinted on them without ever realizing how they are slaves to an emotional wound that was not their fault in the first place.
It’s not psychopath nonsense, it’s real and it leaves a deep mark…
9) They threaten to separate to get their way
Another terrible sign your partner is looking at you is that they are using you to leave as an open threat.
Comes back when you don’t do what they say…
When you bother them…
When you are away from them…
Suddenly they are about to leave you at any time.
It never happened, but this about-to-fall shoe definitely made you freak out.
“You don’t have to go through a life crisis every time you say or do anything, afraid of being your S.O.,” Hannah Ornstein and Caroline Twersky write in Seventeen.
“You need to feel secure in your relationship and feel comfortable enough to be yourself, not constantly walking on eggshells.”
10) They don’t involve you in financial decisions
Financial stress divides many couples for the primary reason that finances are so stressful.
The very wealthy still get caught up in the financial stresses associated with it, which is part of the reason why many wealthy people hire money managers and people to look after their finances.
It can literally be a full time job just managing money and knowing what to do with it, how to save it properly and what you spend it on meets your goals.
Apply this to the average couple and you can see a recipe for stress.
What makes matters worse is the unwillingness of one of the partners to involve the other in crucial financial decisions…
They just go for it, even in joint accounts or situations where they don’t have the moral right to do so (even if they have the legal right).
This is a clear sign that your partner looks down on you if he does.
The failure to involve someone in important financial decisions such as major purchases, investments, withdrawals, or other matters is shocking and indicates a genuine lack of consideration for the other person.
This is the kind of problem that needs to be addressed head on.
Creating separate accounts won’t always cure them, because the problem of disrespect in making financial decisions will continue regardless of the cause of major problems in the relationship.
11) They are all taking and not giving
The thing about egoists is that they are not black and white. We can all be selfish sometimes, even the most generous of us.
There are times when putting yourself first is absolutely essential and something your partner must respect.
But the problem occurs when there is a partner who only thinks about his side all the time.
When they have no more giving and just take…
Then use the love between the two of you as an excuse why this should happen…
They need more of your time, love, energy, attention, compromise or whatever you have.
But all you need from them is demanding, unacceptable, weird, etc.
There is a balance! You don’t want a partner who does everything you say and doesn’t care about themselves.
However, at the same time, a partner who does not respect you enough to care about your needs is clearly viewing you in a fundamental way that needs to be corrected and addressed in order to fix and possibly sustain the relationship.
12) They try to convince you to break your beliefs
The deepest relationships still involve two members: These are two people with unique life experiences, beliefs, and philosophies.
Two people who come together with many similarities and beliefs often find that they have more differences in their views than they realized while growing up together.
This is normal and can be a source of growth and positive learning between partners.
But it can also lead to one trying to impose his or her beliefs on another over time or to break other people’s worldview.
This is clearly a sign of great disrespect. It’s one thing to present your beliefs and speak up for them or vigorously defend them: it’s quite another to force them or make the relationship conditioned by them.
One of the worst signs that your partner looks down on you is that they are trying to force you to change your beliefs or embarrass you for the way you see life, love, and the world.
If they still don’t flinch when you explain how much they hurt you, it could definitely be the point of stress that ends up breaking the relationship unfortunately.
