By. Ran
My entire life I have been taught to be nice, to be polite, and to be respectful. My parents, since the time I could understand and learn something, stressed the importance of being nice and polite to people. Being nice and polite is something that was so engraved into me that I could not even think of speaking up to someone, not even to defend myself.
People were people, with their rude behavior and often offensive words. But I, the nice and the soft one, was nothing like them; I was always prim and proper, and I found ways to justify the rude and offensive people.
Until one day. I still remember that day. All the things that were in me, all the impolite behaviors I had tolerated, all the rude words I had chosen not to listen came screaming back to me. That moment, overwhelmed by the self-pity and fed up with being polite and nice, I decided that it was high time to be myself, to speak up for me. And I did. Everyone was shocked at the new part of me which was just uncovered, even my parents. But that was okay. Because as long as you are speaking your mind, it is okay not be polite or nice.
Stop trying to be something you are not in order to get people to like you. You don’t have to be nice to everyone. In fact, you cannot be nice to everyone even if you wanted to. There are 7.53 billion people in the world and you cannot get everyone to like you.
Yes, people will dislike you for it. But it does not matter because the ones that truly love you will always stand with you, no matter what you say or what you do. So stay true to yourself, your flawed, imperfect, unapologetic, sometimes rude, honest and bold self.
You will no longer prioritize other people’s needs. You will finally put yourself and your happiness first. Having a strong opinion and being vocal about it does not mean that you are an arrogant person. Quite the opposite, it means that you are one of the rarest kind, the kind of those who are true to themselves!