"Don't take things too seriously"

People said this to me often. I even wonder why I take things too seriously and analyse people's actions/words for too long.

Sometimes, it is true that I take little things that are no big deal a bit too seriously, and I think I'm getting better at letting those go. But I take it seriously because people's words attack my value and worth as a person, or I believe that if I let them go too easily, they will come back and do/say these same things to me again one day... So I either responded by asking questions (if I managed to maintain my composure) or thought about it and shared with them directly about how what they said made me feel.

But then today, I came across a Facebook post (that I couldn't find anymore) that wrote something along the lines of: We shouldn't be so reactive to what people say, because if we let this happen, it means that they have the power to affect us just with their words.

And that is quite empowering to me to come across this at this time, and I'm writing this post, so I remember it too. I should just let it go and not let people's words affect me and how I feel. This reminds me of another occasion when a classmate of mine wisely shared with me to let people's words go, and that it only weighs me down if I keep thinking about it. (Thank you, Luc).

So I hope to do better and not be impacted by people's words too easily because I sometimes say things I later regret or don't mean. We are only humans. Sometimes, the things we say in our daily lives are not always what we mean, because we might be frustrated by something that day, for example.

There was also another situation I found myself in recently, where I realized that someone I considered a nice/kind "friend" happens to also have manipulative traits towards me on some occasions. I got a bit frustrated and disappointed and shared it with a mentor and a close friend. They recommended I adjust my reaction accordingly and stop having expectations of people I don't know clearly. So I'll work on that... People keep on surprising me though, but after meeting many kinds so far, I'm starting to see some patterns... Hopefully, one day, I'll be able to identify the ones I don't want to be near earlier... :) Still learning.