Member-only story
P.S. I Don’t Like You
And I have no idea why
A few years ago, I invited a guy out for coffee simply to tell him that I did not like him. What’s worse is that I had no reason for it. Not at the time, at least.
I was, and I hope I still am, a positive and caring person. I love people sometimes to a fault. I have been known to carry the weight of other people’s struggles and burdens to the point it negatively affects me. But I am no Jesus. I realized many moons ago what a terrible surrogate I make.
Caring so much can certainly have its benefits in life, but it is equally weighted with drawbacks. I won’t delve into them here, except for the one that upsets me the most. I care so much for people that it bothers me when I don’t like someone.
I often remind myself that I am only human and there will be people who enter my life who I may not agree with or may genuinely dislike. But this circumstance felt different. I had zero pre-existing relationship with this person. I hardly even knew him. Why did I dislike him? I wrestled with making sense of it.
My distaste for the guy was not predicated on any of his previous behaviors that I had seen. Not from the way he carried himself or how he treated others. He seemed like a nice person, but there was something off-putting about him that I still can’t put a finger on.
