Having a victim mentality robs you of your sense of personal power. Are you living in Victimville? Take this quiz to find out.

1. My first response to a setback is to blame another for what’s happened.
2. No matter what I do, things are not really going to change for me.
3. I often find myself beginning thoughts with phrases like “I cant….”I’m no good at …. I’ve never been able to…..
4. When angry, I rarely begin sentences with “I”.
5. Conversations with others are often about how hard things are.
6. When I meet a person on the street that I haven’t seen in a while and they ask me how I am, I say, “I’m fine” and then start telling them all the things that are wrong in my life.
7. I must have done something really horrible in a past life because nothing ever works for me.
8. When friends offer advice, I usually counter it with a “Yes, but….”
9. No one really understands me or knows how challenging my life really is.
10. I’m always so busy with work and things I need to do that I don’t have time to do the things I want to do.

Living with a victim mentality usually keeps us stuck in old patters and can be an externalized way of dealing with anger or fear of change that you haven’t dealt with. If you answered True to some of the statements above, you may want to explore this further so as to not limit your life and your happiness.