It's great to meet people we share interests and opinions with, but what if I told you that socializing with people who are different from us can actually improve us and our work on multiple levels?

BBYO was love at first sight and I will always cherish our organization and everything it represents. So naturally, I couldn't imagine anyone ever not liking it. However, that changed when I met my first BBYO hater. I told them everything I liked about BBYO and they told me everything they didn't like about BBYO. After our conversation, I have only one conclusion - nothing I said can be used to improve our organization, and everything they said could be a real help to us. As much as I love to be positive about the things I love, for us to improve, we have to learn to be pessimistic when needed.

So now you must be wondering “But doesn't it bother you to communicate with a person that has such a strong negative opinion towards something you love?”, and I have only one answer: we can't all like the same things. My favorite color is yellow, but I wouldn't blame you if you don't like yellow. Not everything is for everybody and that's okay.

Nowadays it's easier than ever to be mean and judgmental towards more people because of our unlimited access to social media. In 2024 anyone has the freedom to tell you anything. You can't afford to take everything to heart.

When a stranger says something critical towards you, you have 3 options. You could take it personally and go on a downward spiral - I do not recommend it, but it's important to know all of your options. Any piece of criticism could become constructive if you look at it the right way, so that's another thing you could do - you could use it to become better. Your last option is to assume everybody is different.

After all, it is not my place to judge, so it's up to you to decide what's best for you.