If there’s anything I’ve learned through my eighteen years so far—which isn’t very long, I know—it’s that there’s always going to be people who don’t like you. I know that’s rough to hear, but it’s something I think all people need to get through their heads. You’re going to have haters and you’re going to have people who don’t like what you do. That’s life but, those people don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. If you’re not doing anything illegal or morally wrong, people really have no say in what you do. Therefore, it’s time to take a crash course on how to deal with said haters and why they don’t even matter. So strap in, college gals, because you’re going to need this advice for the rest of your life.
One of the most important things to know when you’re faced with people who don’t like you is that most of time, there are way more people who like you than who don’t. Sometimes It’s really hard to see through those people and focus on the ones who bring positive energy and love into your life. As human beings, we automatically grow self-conscious when we find out people have a problem with us because we want to know what we are doing wrong. However, unless you are going out of your way to do something wrong to this person, they probably just dislike you because you’re being who you really are and not who they want you to be. This is obviously a ridiculous reason but people dislike when others don’t act a certain way. With this knowledge, be yourself all the time and never try to be anybody else. This is cliché, but it’s something people need to hear more often. The right people who will love you for who you are will come into your life eventually and you’ll never have to please anyone and be someone you’re not.
Ignore anyone who has an issue with you. They’re not worth your time or energy and it will just upset you to actually listen to what they have to say. If they realize you don’t care about what their issues are with you, they’ll stop talking about said issues and you’ll hear less negativity in your life. And if you can’t ignore them, then answer them with a smile. Even if you’re upset on the inside, if you laugh along with anything mean they may say or they give you a dirty look, smiling will always turn them off. I’m sure you all have great fake smiles—I mean, let’s be real, we’ve all pretty much had to perfect our fake smiles when it came to prom pictures in high school. Even if the smile isn’t genuine, they won’t be able to tell, and they’ll see you’re actually happy with your life and you could care less about their view of you.
At the end of the day, haters suck and it’s annoying to know that people may have a problem with you. You have so many other supportive people in your life to turn to that will make you happy no matter what. Rely on them because they’re there for a reason. Be yourself and do what makes you happy and you will be the one with complete happiness in the end, not the people who have been putting negative auras around their lives as they talk badly about you.