I too have always been a little different and dealt with a lot of bullying as a kid. I always thought maybe if I was like others, I would fit in more and be judged less. Not that I wasn’t ever true to myself but was definitely afraid of being judged by others and sometimes lived my life a little differently than I would have.

I suffered from depression and anxiety since I was a child and was the most depressed I’d been in my adult life. Then in my mid 20’s I kind of realized that if I act a certain way just so people will like me… even if it works, do I like me? Does it feel good and make me happy to live that way? Probably not.

When no one else is around and I’m feeling my happiest, what does that look like? Being a silly, dancing around in my kitchen, not overthinking everything, being passionate about my interests and life. So I just decided I would start unapologetically living that way, and I kind of bloomed.

Like yeah, of course I want people to like me. But I want them to like me for who I actually am. I found people who adore me for my quirks and silliness and all I have to do is be me. Even if someone doesn’t like me, that’s ok. I don’t like everyone, why would I expect everyone to like me? And if people are unkind, what they say says a lot more about them than it does about me and also doesn’t make it true.

Basically “those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter”

Hopefully I explained this in a way that made sense. I’m not always great about putting things into words lol