The Realisation — I’m not for everyone.

When you have a facebook page, facebook provides you with a feature called insights. What this does is it provides you with an array of information, telling you how your page is performing. This includes the ‘reach’ of the page, how many clicks you are getting, and allows you to compare your progress from week to week. It’s really helpful, although it’s also quite easy to get addicted to checking your insights all the time.

There is also one other statistic that you can view, and it is based on any negative reaction to your posts. So, if someone sees one of your posts, and decides to either unlike the page, or hide all your page’s posts, facebook lets you know. It never tells you the ‘who’ with any of these stats, for privacy reasons. That’s definitely a good thing.

The reason I mention the negative feedback, is because today I looked at one of my posts, and saw it, there in the corner — someone had clicked to hide all my posts. At first I was a bit confused, and tried to figure out why. It was on one of my more negative posts so that made it more understandable. It would be easy to feel personally insulted by something like that, but in reality, there is no reason to.

Of course, I would love for everyone to find my writing entertaining, thought-provoking or inspiring, but that is an idealistic ambition. The truth of it is, that as a person with an opinion, I am not going to appeal to everyone who stumbles across my page. One person might find what I believe ridiculous, idiotic, or find it really offensive. My posts may annoy another. This is absolutely ok. If I didn’t have an opinion, I wouldn’t be the person I am. More people might be fond of me, but with no character, it’s more likely to be an indifference. Art polarises. It divides people. One person might hate a portrait, whilst another may think it speaks to their soul. This is the manner of the business.

My point in writing this article is this — don’t be put off of your passion because some might disagree with what you do. This world is truly symmetrical. Yin cannot exist without Yang. They come together for the perfect balance. Not everyone will like what you do, and that is completely ok. If you are being yourself, there is nothing you can do about it, so just swim on through. There will be plenty who love you for who you are.

Warmly,

Jack