Imagine a world where what people said to you could not possibly make you feel bad about yourself. Not possibly. Regardless if it was corrosive, hurtful or evil, whether it was born from psychosis, jealousy or spite, whether it was willfully intended or not…nothing anyone could ever say to you could ever come close to damaging your self-esteem or self-image.

Nothing.

You’re too fat, you’re too skinny, you’re wearing that? Why are you such a fucking asshole? Your ass is huge! How the hell can you vote for that douchebag? No way can you do that! You’ll never win. You’re not even close to being in my league. Did a homeless guy give you that haircut? You will never be good enough. No one likes you. You can’t possibly believe that you can win. You’re too bad an influence to be around the kids. Your dick is too small. Hey, where’d your tits go? No one will ever, ever love you…

…nope…nothing.

Imagine that world as being real…because at one time—in your life—it was. It was for you. And you. And you and you and you… That world was real, it existed, it was your world when you were 1 year old. At 1 year old you existed on this planet but could not understand what people said to you. They could still say all of those horrible, shitty, soul destroying things but you couldn’t be hurt by them because, quite literally, there was no way for you to understand what the fuck they were saying. They still said them because that’s what people do…

…but you were completely unaffected.

Do that shit again.

Become the person that just doesn’t understand when people say stupid, hurtful things. Whether they mean to rip your soul out of your body or not, simply choose to not understand what they are saying. Watch their lips move, feel the frequency of the words they say, watch their facial expressions as they say what is an obviously fucked up thing…and smile. Learn to sift through the words you hear and grab the facts and the words that are based in objective reality but dump all the subjective, opinionated and totally useless words that are meant only to hurt, to degrade, to destroy.

Think to yourself; “I have no idea about a lot of what this person is saying but I’m sure they mean well so I’ll just nod and smile so that they don’t feel bad about not being understood.”

Unlike being a 1 year old, you have the ability to pick and choose what you understand and what you don’t. You get to decide which words will have an effect on you and which ones simply float away in the air around you. It’s not ignoring people, no, it’s actually listening to them intently for the constructive and civilized bits and pieces of their conversations…and disregarding anything that veers into spiteful and demeaning territory.

You are simply filtering out the trash.

I know this to be ABSOLUTELY TRUE; you are an amazing and beautiful person, unique in every way possible, and you were born with all the tools and knowledge needed to love and be loved in return.

There are no words on this planet—not a single one—that can be uttered by any person, regardless of who they are, regardless their relationship to you, regardless of how much money, friends, wealth or twitter followers they have…

…that can change any of these facts.

Believe. Go. Do.

~TrevorZen