December 20 — They Don’t Like Me
At work the other day, a coworker said something like, “Everybody loves you here. You work hard, you don’t complain, and you just do what you’re asked without arguing.” My ego grabbed that sentence and took it for a ten-minute victory lap before I came back to my senses.
What landed wasn’t self-hatred — it was clarity. Left to my own devices, I’m not especially lovable. I’m a drunk who used to sit on a barstool, talk too much, take advantage of situations, and run my mouth like I had something important to say. That version of me didn’t earn much trust.
What people seem to respond to isn’t me — it’s what this program did with me. They like reliability. They like humility. They like someone who shows up, tries, listens, and doesn’t need to be the main character. Those are spiritual principles I practice imperfectly, but consistently enough to be useful.
And that usefulness does something unexpected — it rewards me with a quiet kind of happiness. Not the flashy kind my ego wants, just the kind that lets me sleep at night and come back tomorrow willing to try again.
So yeah… I’ll keep coming back.
Have you ever realized people weren’t responding to you, but to the principles you were practicing?
