You can't make everybody happy. You can't give everyone everything they want. You can't be everyone's everything. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
I'm sorry, but that's just not the way it works.
No matter what you say or don't say, believe in it or don't believe at all. No matter what time you go to bed, what boys or girls you kiss, what types of books you like to read, not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to want to be your best friend. And that's okay.
So what if every person you meet doesn't like you? That girl or boy doesn't want to date you. That teacher doesn't like the way you write.
If someone doesn't like you, good. That means you have opinions and a personality and a voice. That means you've been heartbroken and you've been discounted and you've been let down. You have fights and meltdowns and you scream and cry and fall apart because everything isn't perfect. Everyone doesn't like you. Everyone isn't your best friend. And sometimes, it sucks and it hurts. And that's okay, too. You know when to stand your ground.
And, from what I've witnessed, more often than not, trying to please everyone usually doesn't end well for you people pleasers anyway.
A lot of the time, if you're trying to please everyone, there are probably a lot of strings attached. You're probably an expert of manipulation, secrets, and lies. Or maybe not lies, but sometimes just avoiding the truth.
You don't want this person to know that you hung out with that person. You don't want that girl to know about the other girls you're seeing. You don't want that teacher to disagree with what you wrote.
You have no substance, no truth. Everything you are is pretend. It's make-believe. You're so caught up in just trying to please everyone that you don't even know who you are or what you want. You run around with your lies and your secrets and your deceptions on the soles of your shoes, stepping on the people trying to like you. To be your best friend. And that's not okay.
You can't just go around acting like you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want without ever thinking about how it might affect the people around you. How they might become the collateral damage in your life of stories and lies. You can't just make believe and pretend and expect people to care about you.
You can try as hard as you want, but sometimes you just can't have it all, do it all, or be it all.
In trying to please everyone you're going to end up not pleasing anyone at all. They're going to slam a door in your face, walk away, leave your heart shattered on the bathroom floor. And you'll retreat into the vast obscurity of what you are not and what you will never be.
