Stargazing under a tree
I once read the mind is like a tree, one with branches and deep roots. You can come across something many times in your life, but not until it takes root will it truly change you.
After many many years I think I'm finally realizing if someone doesn't like me for who I am then they truly don't like me. And if I change myself in some way to please them then the person they begin to like is not me. Seems so simple really but it's taken years for those two sentences to sink in. It's like looking at a picture of the Taj Mahal. You can view pictures all you want, read and research until you're blue in the face, but not until you directly experience it will it truly awe you.
There's a strong and solid confidence that builds from knowing yourself. What have you to lose if someone doesn't like what you have to offer?
I know we all live in our own personality shells, our beliefs and perceptions colored by our own uniqueness; but I can speculate about others. I think a lot of people put on fronts with others, wear masks, however you want to phrase it because they're afraid of people not liking their true selves. It's easy if someone rejects a mask you put on for them because in the back of your mind you know they didn't reject the real you. It's quite another thing when you truly open up to someone and they hurt or reject you, because then you know you didn't hide anything from them and so they truly rejected or hurt you. That's just what I believe but I suspect it holds for a good many others.
Life really is cool. A journey like no other really. But you have to experience it though, you have to actually go through the experiences you go through and feel what you feel. And you have to feel deeply for life to truly affect you. Hmm, and you can't feel very deeply if masks are covering you. Heh, a thought to ponder for another time.