You learn a lot as you get older obviously, but I didn't realise quite how many things would become apparent that you are really not warned about when you're younger. For example, that a time will come in your life when you literally do not have the time to do the things you want to do or that there isn't a set time plan for life that means you must be married by a certain age, own a house by a certain age, have children by a certain age or in fact at all.
All of these things are key to personal happiness and while I obviously feel that learning to love and accept your body as it is and realising that not every body conforms to the cookie cutter idea of a perfect body pressed on us by the media, the next most crucial thing that I have learned in life is that you will never, ever be liked by everyone and that in fact that is not just okay, but good.
I have always gone through life trying to be pleasant to everyone I meet no matter what and I will admit that on more occasion I have continued to be nice to people even after they had done something crappy to me and really didn't deserve it. I still pride myself on treating everyone equally when I meet them and I would never go out of my way to be mean to someone but despite my best efforts to be everyone's buddy, you know what? There are some people who just don't like me.
But is that really surprising seeing as every single person on this planet is unique and has their own set of personality traits and habits? Not really. In the words of Dita Von Teese “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” and it really is the truth.
Instead of getting upset when you find out that you just aren't somebody's cup of tea (unless of course you have done something naff and therefore shouldn't expect them to like you) the best thing you can do is to think it through, accept it and move on. This is for the benefit of your own mental health, it helps you grow as a person. Does it really matter if that one person likes you? Maybe they'll say stuff about you to others which I agree is frustrating and nasty, but then again if those people are worth your friendship and time would they believe that person straight off the bat or would they speak to you and form their own opinion?
We all know that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Your cover won't appeal to everyone and neither will mine, so not everyone will take the time to 'read you' so to speak and learn about the real you and in my mind this just means that those that do are worth your time and attention too. Invest yourself in people that invest in you and add something to your life, then do your utmost to do the same for them - it really does make life a lot less complicated.
