I don’t know about you, but I’ve experienced this a lot:
- I’ll talk about someone being mean or bigoted towards me.
- And someone will say something like “Don’t let them get to you”, or
- “Don’t ever let people get under your skin like that, they’re not worth it”
And in my experience, that always makes me feel worse. This is what I eventually figured out about it:
Things hurt.
It’s not your fault that it hurts when people are awful to you.
It’s not your fault you care what people think of you sometimes. (Everyone does.)
Having connections to others matters. And when people we’re connected to are mean, it hurts.
Self esteem talk can end up being yet another stick to beat you with, and that’s not right either.
Being hurt by mean people doesn’t mean you’re failing. It’s not possible to be completely invulnerable at all times. When someone’s shooting arrows at you, it’s not your fault for failing to make armor fast enough to stop them.
This is one that bugs me. I am inordinately good at not caring what other people think…but sometimes it just matters. It can matter to you emotionally, and you know, sometimes it can matter in a very tangible life-affecting way.
Which, you know, is why human beings are hard-wired to care what other people think about them. It can be a matter of safety or security. You need other people.
So. You’re not weak for caring what other people think. It’s not your fault when they do something to hurt you and it does in fact hurt.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1DFYI15