We live on a planet that is currently inhabited by 7.7 billion human beings.
Of course, there are people who don’t like you.
Believe me, some of them even hate you, envy you and despise you.
But, hey… That’s just the way life is. That’s the way human interactions work.
You may feel bad about it, but at the end of the day, you have to understand that most of the times, it has nothing to do with who you are as a person.
It has everything to do with our preferences and needs. So, you cannot possibly think that you’ll get the same treatment everywhere you go.
Each and every one of us is a complex combination of fears, insecurities, passions, opinions, issues, flaws, beliefs. No matter how much you try, it is impossible to like everyone and be liked by every single person you meet.
Take me for example.
I’m loud. Open-minded. Straightforward. Brutal. Clumsy. Overly emotional. Impulsive. Passionate. Temperamental. Empathic. Vulnerable. Realistic. Noisy. Stubborn.
That’s me. In a nutshell.
If you can’t accept me and respect me for who I am, then leave. Whether you love me or hate me, how I feel about myself will never depend on your opinions. Your misconception about me can’t force me to hate myself. Your quick judgment won’t make me feel miserable.
It will only tell me everything I need to know about you.
Because you know how it is: What Susie says of Sally says more of Susie than of Sally. Make sure you write that down and read it every morning.
Still, I know that all of this is probably easier said than done.
But, self-growth takes time.
The truth is, I wasn’t this confident and strong at the beginning.
On the contrary, I was the person who cared too much about what others think of me. I was the fragile girl who used to cry herself to sleep after contemplating how rotten this world is. I was the girl who avoided public confrontation. The girl who wanted to be accepted by everyone.
However, this girl became tired of having to deal with that girl.
I realized that I cannot possibly go forward if I continue giving a f*ck about what others thought of me. I finally understood that I have to get up on my feet, speak up and be exactly who I am regardless of how much others judge and criticize me.
Once I felt the empowerment and the joy of being completely true to myself, I knew that there’s nothing people can say about me that will ever hurt me again.
Right then and there, I made a promise to myself.
I am who I am. I will learn to love myself first because that is who I’ll be spending the rest of my life with. I will never strive for perfection, and I will stop caring what others think of me.
Because, at the end of the day, I know that if I ever try to please every human being on this planet, I will lose myself completely and end up feeling shallow.
So, here’s to freedom. Here’s to independence.
I will continue my journey and I will never stop paving my own path.
This is who I am. Love me or hate me, either way, I don’t care.
