Ive been your typical nice guy my entire life. Ive always avoided confrontation, and Ive found myself to be the target of verbal insults in my friend group, mostly only by one person. This has been going on for a few years, and I've become known as somone who doesn't defend himself. I usually try to escalate and amplify, but that doesn't really do much. Im tired of being a pushover and am planning on standing my ground (verbally) from now on. My only question to you guys is: when i change how i respond people will definitely question why im acting different "woah you've never done this before" or "why you acting differnt". I could even see them laughing about it. How can i stand my ground when my past self is brought up?