Not everyone is going to like you

I enjoy writing about embracing your authentic self, but I don’t want to speak only about the positives of living authentically. I don’t like to sugar coat shit. You deserve honesty, so I’ll cut to the chase: there will be people that dislike you for being your true, authentic self. The reasons for that usually lie along the lines of people not understanding you, people struggling with being themselves so they develop envy towards those who can & straight up disliking you only because you are different.

Do realize that they are entitled to their opinions but understand that it is up to you to let their opinion bother you. Instead of worrying about what others think & feel, focus on getting to know yourself & how you want the rest of your life to play out. The further you get into the journey of understanding yourself & building your self-esteem, you get to the point where you realize a smaller circle is more enjoyable than having the “fear of missing out” take over & pressure you into thinking more people in your life is somehow better.

If you feel that you need to have a large circle of people you socialize with, you are most likely either an extrovert who naturally has people gravitate towards them or you might be a people pleaser. If you are an extrovert & gain energy from socializing, do your thing. Live your life. But today I’m speaking to the people pleaser types today. The ones that are afraid of what people will think of & say about them. The ones who can’t say no because of guilt or what I mentioned earlier, the “fear of missing out.”

This plagues quite a bit of people since society tries to push the idea that being alone equals being miserable & lonely. I cannot stress this enough; solitude is essential. It’s enjoyable & eye opening. As an introvert myself, I can go on a goddamn tangent about the benefits of enjoying your own company, but I’ll do that for you in my future stories, dear reader.

Now, the reason I say that it’s a good thing that not everyone is going to like you is because there could be people that appear to “like” you while having ill intentions. From what I have witnessed and experienced, people pleasing usually ends with those around you noticing your “aim to please” trait, & there will be the ones that will take full advantage of you & need for approval. I don’t want you to get to that point. Understand that if you have done nothing wrong to a person but they have a strong dislike towards you, let it be. Move on.

Believe or not, it’s not your problem at the end of the day.

Life still goes on; the world keeps turning & my favorite thing is that people come & go. If someone cannot accept you for you who are, they aren’t meant to be a part of your story. They aren’t worthy of your time, your effort or your kindness. As always, this is easier said than done. Like most things, it takes time. You have to understand that it’s not worth it trying to get someone to like you or respect you. Both of those events happen naturally, & we are all different especially perspective wise.

Multitudes of upbringings, past experiences, etc. determine the type of people you will love and the people you might hate. It’s not the end of the world because someone doesn’t get along with you or like being around you. Do you have people that already enjoy spending time with you? (I know you already do). Also, do you enjoy your own company? Those are the important questions.

Life is hard enough so don’t add extra bullshit to the mix when you don’t have to. If it doesn’t happen organically, keep moving. There’s plenty of people out there and you’ll find your tribe, even if the social circle is small.