For the last few years I’ve been working really hard on me. I’ve been trying to break bad habits. I’ve been trying to build healthy relationships and let go of toxic ones. I’ve been trying to strengthen my relationship with the Lord. I’ve been trying to be true to who I really am and stop trying to please other people. It has been exhausting. And well worth it. Today I am happier and more “me” than I have ever been.

The only negative is that there are some people who don’t care for this version of me. I don’t know if it is my newly strengthened faith that offends them. Or maybe my unwillingness to hide parts of me to please them. Or maybe they’ve never cared for me and now the truth is finally in the open. Whatever the reason, it hurts.

But this journey toward this happiness and peace has taught me a lot. And one thing I know for certain is that God loves me. And that He doesn’t make mistakes. And He made me, so I’m okay. I’m broken and flawed and will screw up over and over but He still loves me. And that is what matters more than anything else.

So know this, there will always be people that you can’t please. You will never be good enough for them. You could change your whole life to suit them and still they’d find you lacking. And that is a problem within them, not a problem within you.

I encourage all of you to learn to shut out those people. If you can walk away from them, do. If they’re family, limit their interaction with your life as much as you can. Don’t let them tear you down. Pray that God can help them fix the part of them that finds others always lacking. Pray that God can help them work on becoming kinder people.

Stay strong. And don’t let the haters drag you down.

Blessings
~Elise