One of the most critical pieces of advice came from my doctor. She said that the way that others treat you say everything about them, and nothing about you.
Until that point, I felt that it was my personal failure to not be able to relate to everyone that I came across. No matter how genuine, sincere, or listening I did I couldn’t get everyone at work to appreciate me. Now I see how misguided I was.
You see growing up I had to get along with jerks so that I could graduate and survive. So to me, it was normal to have to win people over in order to succeed in life.
What I didn’t realize is that no matter how wonderful you are, some people just won’t like you and that is ok. I didn’t need to be liked because I wanted their friendship or benefits. I did it to survive and show that I was a team player at work and capable of doing the job and surviving. As an HSP I didn’t need to be overstimulated with a ton of relationships. This was for work and survival not for fun.
Now perhaps some of my past coworkers are reading this and thinking to themselves, was his relationship with me sincere? Yes. I was sincere with every relationship and honestly tried my best. However there was a point where I realized that to be balanced in life I would have to accept that some people would always be haters, and I became comfortable with that.
Now does this mean we should just think of ourselves and everyone else can do whatever they want? No, its clear that there is a balance between the community and the individual. Its not always easy to know where that is, but if you find it, you will be happier in life.