Not everyone is going to like me. I may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Some people may think I’m too much of something they aren’t comfortable with.

Because that’s what we do sometimes. Isn’t it? 

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If we aren’t careful, we can start labeling people without even giving them a chance.
I don’t like them. They’re just too much.

Too loud.
Too boisterous.
Too excited.
Too quiet.
Too extroverted.
Too introverted.
Too happy.
Too outspoken.
Too liberal.
Too conservative.
The list goes on and on.

It used to bother me if someone didn’t like me.

I wanted to figure out why. I wanted to make it better. I wanted to prove to them I wasn’t whatever it was they didn’t like about me.

Even if I was exactly that thing.

Over the years, I have learned to be comfortable being who God made me to be.

We each have our own gifts and talents. We each have traits unique to us. We have our own life experiences we draw from and our own personalities. We are products of our environment. Of how we grew up. Of our hopes and our dreams and joys and our sorrows.

Not everyone is going to like me. And that’s OK. I don’t need to try to make them.

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I just need to be kind to everyone I encounter. To treat others with the love and respect and kindness they deserve.

It’s not my job to change people’s opinions of me. And it isn’t yours, either.

You are a beautiful child of God, created in His image.

Not everyone is going to like me.

And that’s OK.

I don’t need to try to make them. And what a relief that is.

Originally published on the author’s Facebook page