Don't need to be liked anymore

It's something I had to get used to. In truth, no one likes to be dis-liked.
But I learned how to take in what matters and what didn't. Priorities you could say.


Priorities like following your principles through and through.
Priorities like being liked for the right reasons instead of the wrong.


Which in turn means learning how to take in who matters and who didn't.


And so I learned that it's okay to be dis-liked.  Even if it's from people who you love or admire. It's okay because eventually, hopefully, they'll understand your reasons and respect you.






The first time I learned this was sometime around high school when someone who I thought of as an acquaintance thought of me as a close friend, so he got mad when I hung out with others and not him. And I figured... I'll just leave it at that: acquaintance.


The most recent time is when I was volunteering this past Tuesday. There is a boy, let's just say JY, who gets upset when he is losing a game -- in truth, all of the students can get like this when they are behind in points.  JY gets more frustrated than the others because he is younger, so he doesn't understand as much English as the other kids. I told him that the point of the English class was to make mistakes...
No one is perfect the first time around, so I told him it's better to have made an effort and make 실수s/mistakes. I also went on to say that playing games isn't always about winning. Winning is fun, but you have to take joy in your friends' winning streak, too -- not just when you happen to win. He wasn't very happy when I said this quietly while the others were still continuing to play. He didn't say good-bye when I left.


I know he'll get over it and, hopefully, learn from it. But the idea is...
don't always take the action or say the words that will make you "popular."
It's not what matters.


* {I wonder if this is how parents feel when disciplining their children. I know I was a bad kid ><}