DEALING WITH HATERS

There are some people that can never be happy
seeing someone else succeed. They believe
someone else’s success makes them something
less. It makes them jealous. They don’t believe
that someone else deserves a success that
they themselves don’t already have.
They mock those that try. They hate.
Some people will judge you based on their own
self-imposed limitations, and they will mock
and criticize you for pursuing greatness. They
believe that others should be forced to accept
the limitations that they have placed upon
themselves, even if it would make that
someone less than they might be.
They are puny people, and so you must be puny
with them.
There are some who will try to tear you down
as a way to not feel inferior. They will do this
so that they don’t have to feel bad about
themselves. In their little minds, you are
stupid for putting forth the effort required
to succeed, you are stupid for trying so hard,
and you are stupid for drinking the Kool-Aid.
You are stupid, and they are smart for being
able to see what you have missed.
Many haters are too lazy to pursue their own
ambition. Many more are too afraid of being
criticized the same way that they criticize
others. Because they never try, they have no
idea that their supportive tribe is ready and
waiting for them. Because they would never
open themselves up to being criticized by their
small-minded and feeble friends, they never
know greatness. They instead know only hate.
You don’t do what you do to please the haters.
You don’t do what you do to win them over.
Everything that you do is for the people that
need what it is that you do, the people that
gain from it, the people that appreciate it.
Your tribe wants you—needs you—to lead it.
You deal with the haters by not dealing with
the haters. You ignore them. You turn their
already too small, too rotten, and too vile
voices down to a level that is imperceptible. It
will drive them crazy, and their voices will get
louder and shriller—for a time. Then their
voices will disappear into oblivion as you move
past them, as you move forward, as you
become bigger.
So, you make the effort. You try. You pursue
greatness. You reach your full potential, and
you ignore those that hope for your failure.
Their hope is all for naught anyway. The haters
can’t stop you from succeeding . . . unless you
join them.