Three years ago I started acknowledging "Hero of the Day" on Facebook. Unbelievably, I received backlash from people who weren't selected on a particular day or weren't selected quickly enough (in their opinion). I know. Unbelievable.
After several wonderful and heartfelt posts, I stopped because I just didn't feel like dealing with the haters.
About a year later, I made a declaration (mostly to myself and God, but I shared with a few close friends) that I was separating myself from all the toxic people in my life.
So, here we are three years later, and the declaration has become a reality. All the haters have unfriended me on Facebook. :-D
My circle - especially my close inner circle - is a wonderful group of confident, upwardly mobile, loving, generous, humble friends and coworkers who don't operate in the world of pettiness and jealousy.
To be honest, it took a change in me to re-align myself with the right people. I was broken, and broken people attract brokenness. As I started healing, growing stronger and confident (again), I attracted people who were on that same path, or who had walked that path already and arrived at a place of secure in themselves.
During my journey, I realized it's not just that "like attracts like." It's also that opposites attract. Victims attract bullies. Naive people attract shysters. Vulnerable people attract those who like to dominate. Different shades or ends of the brokenness scale, are drawn to each other. (ugh!)
I'd been so caught up in people pleasing and only seeing the best in people that I didn't realize I'd attracted a mob of shady characters who expected to be pleased at all costs. Not all of my friends were that way, of course. Just the super loud, ultra sensitive, easily offendable ones.
There are a few "confidence-challenged" friends whom I still consider close. They're strong enough, however, to keep their insecurity in check. They realize it would be detrimental to our relationship to throw shade when I compliment someone else.
With that said, I will resume what was a really wonderful, thoughtful, and appreciated tribute. I will acknowledge my Heroes of the Day, as often as possible!
Constantly Thinking (and appreciating people)...
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