Hi there,

There's a guy in my class at school. He's not even being a prick, i just find his character intimidating. He's not the only one who is able to quickly intimidate me. I'm just not sure how to react. I'll give you a very simple example of what i mean: We're working at a garden as a school project, he takes command and says i have to move a plant which he could also have moved. It's not really even that i dislike the fact so much that i have to move the plant, but i can't take the fact that someone is bossing me around. But this guy is a pretty manly and big guy, and i'm just intermediate. And i feel intimidated by him and i don't know if i should object to his task for me. Like i said, the problem is that i can't mentally handle being bossed around and i feel the need to defend my dominance by objecting what he tells me to do. Only that, i could care less about moving a plant. But this guy is a very bossy person, even when i object, he is very persistent and does not stop telling me to do something until i actually do it.

Now, i'm not a bully victim. And i do know how to stand up to myself would someone really try to ***** me over. But i just feel so insecure when someone is bossing me around or challenging me. I always feel the need that i need to stand up for myself, be masculine, and not let someone insult me.

Another example is if someone says: "why did you do that? you're an idiot!". I might not feel truly offended that the person called me an idiot, but i still feel like i need to defend myself and say something insulting to that person too.

I guess what it all comes down to that i can't accept a situation where a person has more power over me than i have over them. (except when it comes down to teachers and stuff). I feel like i need to be masculine and dominant and not let someone insult, challenge or command me without them getting away with it, otherwise i feel like i'm being weak. And i don't want to give that impression.

How do i go about this?