I don't know how to let people treat me.

Ahimsa, the sanskrit term meaning non-violence, or doing no harm. Simply put, ahimsa is kindness -- being kind to yourself and everything around you. This is the first yama, which is one of eight of the limbs of yoga. Ahimsa is harder than it seems, most of all, practicing it toward ourselves. We are our own harshest critics, and we tend to let others treat us just as poorly as we treat ourselves.

My problem is that I am hard on myself and strive for an unrealistic perfection. When I am not perfect, I get down on myself, and now I don't know how I am supposed to be treated as a human. I can easily tell other people when they are not being treated with the utmost respect they deserve, but for some reason when I'm the one being jerked around, I find all these excuses for the abuser and look it as some challenge that I should learn to view empathetically.

Admittedly, this is the only way to stay positive, or even sane in certain situations. Sometimes a coworker, a roommate, or someone even closer to you treats you like garbage, and you excuse their behavior because, frankly there is no alternative. You have to live with said person, and you ought to find a way to keep yourself from becoming completely unhinged.

My problem is that I don't know where the line is. Sometimes I get so used to letting someone at work treat me like dirt, and then I somehow let that bleed over into my friendships, relationships, and wellbeing.

It is a practice, but a very difficult one.