Let people be wrong about you
The other day a friend shared a post that resonated with me, and the gist of it was this:
It's ok to let people be wrong about you.
That was a giant lightbulb moment for me, because you see, I have a really hard time with this concept and I'd never been able to put it into words before. I don't have a problem being wrong and I can totally admit it when I am. But when other people have a mistaken impression of me, it hurts. Is it my pride? Is it that I don't want anyone to think ill of me? Not necessarily.
I don't need everyone to LIKE me. I understand that I'm not everyone's cup of tea and I am well aware that there are people who don't/won't like me. I'm ok with that. What gets me is when people misunderstand me. When people's opinions are based on erroneous information. Ugh, that really bothers me. I've had two incidents recently that were misunderstandings, and those people were just dead wrong about me. I get it, they were working with info that they had, but no amount of talking was going to change their opinion. Well ok, then, now what?
In the past I would have stressed over it. Lost sleep over it. Worried about how to justify it. But I've realized that I can't do that anymore. I have to let that go. I cannot possibly "fix" what someone else thinks about me, and it is ok to let people be wrong. It is simply out of my control. All I can do is try my best to be a good, honest person and be a valuable friend. If I am doing that and can hold my head up high because I know in my heart that I am being an honest person, then I have to just let everything else go. I cannot waste time or energy trying to convince someone otherwise.
Such a simple concept! But harder to put into practice since it doesn't come naturally to me to "let things go". The past couple of days of soul searching though have felt like a lot of unnecessary weight has been lifted. I can just...move on. Wow. I think I'm gonna like this.
It's ok to let people be wrong about you.
That was a giant lightbulb moment for me, because you see, I have a really hard time with this concept and I'd never been able to put it into words before. I don't have a problem being wrong and I can totally admit it when I am. But when other people have a mistaken impression of me, it hurts. Is it my pride? Is it that I don't want anyone to think ill of me? Not necessarily.
I don't need everyone to LIKE me. I understand that I'm not everyone's cup of tea and I am well aware that there are people who don't/won't like me. I'm ok with that. What gets me is when people misunderstand me. When people's opinions are based on erroneous information. Ugh, that really bothers me. I've had two incidents recently that were misunderstandings, and those people were just dead wrong about me. I get it, they were working with info that they had, but no amount of talking was going to change their opinion. Well ok, then, now what?
In the past I would have stressed over it. Lost sleep over it. Worried about how to justify it. But I've realized that I can't do that anymore. I have to let that go. I cannot possibly "fix" what someone else thinks about me, and it is ok to let people be wrong. It is simply out of my control. All I can do is try my best to be a good, honest person and be a valuable friend. If I am doing that and can hold my head up high because I know in my heart that I am being an honest person, then I have to just let everything else go. I cannot waste time or energy trying to convince someone otherwise.
Such a simple concept! But harder to put into practice since it doesn't come naturally to me to "let things go". The past couple of days of soul searching though have felt like a lot of unnecessary weight has been lifted. I can just...move on. Wow. I think I'm gonna like this.
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