I was having coffee with a friend of mine when I realized I had to write this post. Actually, he was having coffee, and I was just having a smoothie. And that’s where it all started.

I ordered my drink and walked over to sit down at the table where my friend was already situated, and almost before I could get through the pleasantries of hello, he looked at the smoothie I was drinking and asked me why I didn’t order a coffee. I told him that I didn’t drink coffee, and it was just never really my thing.

And then the switch flipped and he unloaded on me with all the hyperbolic banter he could muster.

“You don’t drink coffee? Are you kidding me?! What the hell is wrong with you? I don’t understand how anyone could possibly live without it.”

I recoiled sheepishly as he berated me, and I was just about to begin defending myself for my choice of beverage when I thought:

Bullshit.

Why should I have to defend myself because I’m not exactly the same as you? Why should I have to like coffee just because you think you couldn’t live without it? And for that matter, why should anyone have to like anything?

The funny part is that this has probably happened to me 1,000 times.

I’ve done it before. You’ve done it before. I’m sure everyone has been through this exact situation at some point in their lives. It’s almost formulaic. Someone finds out that your tastes differ from their own, and for some reason, it affects them so greatly that they feel like they absolutely need to convert you.

All of a sudden, meeting for coffee turns into a sales pitch where your friend is the sleazy used car guy from every local commercial ever, and you’re the poor sap who definitely is not interested in buying a used Honda from 1998 with just over 160,000 miles on it.

And despite the fact that this has happened to me so many times before, I never realized how completely ridiculous the whole routine is until just recently.

When I was a kid, I was always a little different than everyone else. I was super shy and introverted, and I liked dragons and Pokemon just long enough for everyone else to stop liking them and start calling me a nerd.

I didn’t wear the same clothes everyone else did, I didn’t read the same books, and I definitely didn’t like the same music, so naturally I must have been a total weirdo.

But worry not, because society set me straight!

I actually look back at it now and laugh a bit, because over the years, I started becoming more and more like everyone else. I probably just got sick of taking a beating for being different, and over time, I adapted.

Now I’m a college grad with a full time job, and for the most part, I look just like everybody else. I’m the product of a system that puts all the emphasis on fitting in and not nearly enough on standing out.

But somewhere inside, I’m still the kid that’s just a shade different than everyone around me. I’m still the kid with my own story to tell, and I don’t want to change who I am just for the sake of fitting in. And for the love of god, I still hate coffee.

So when my friend was done giving me his pitch, I didn’t give in and tell him I’m an idiot for not drinking coffee (which is pretty much what I usually do). I asked him if he thought that, just maybe, he was the ridiculous one for making such a big deal out of a small thing. For the first time, I managed to turn the whole thing around and feel good about myself for not liking coffee. And I felt good about my friend’s love for coffee too!

Because people are supposed to be different.

So next time someone finds out that you don’t like soccer, or roller coasters, or flying, or anything made by Apple, don’t curl up in a ball of shame or feel like you have to defend yourself. And definitely don’t start drinking coffee if you think it tastes like dirt. You’re different, and that’s a good thing.

And maybe if we all stop admonishing each other for every little variance between us, the next generation of quiet little kids can grow up to be whomever they want instead of an army of brainwashed robots.