This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
Over the last few years, I’ve lost touch with a handful of folks I considered internet friends.
This sort of thing happens all the time, of course. But more recently, I had two folks who I used to chat with almost every day block me on Discord.
Normally, I don’t find getting blocked to be all that big of a deal.
But when it’s people you thing you’re good friends with, and you’re not sure why it’s happened, it hits different.
And as someone with ADHD, it triggers rejection sensitive dysphoria (or RSD).
I was chatting about all of this with my friend Sara Joy, a fellow ADHDer, and she hit me with something so beautifully profound and affirming that I had to share it with you.
If a person is a strong personality, it will just happen to rub some people up the wrong way—and there’s not much that can be done about it other than shrinking yourself, and I don’t think that’s a solution.
I wrote a little about this two years ago when I shared similar sentiments from designer Anna E. Cook…
I’ve been holding myself back because I am a very energetic, bubbly, and animated person.
People don’t always love that, understandable.
But it’s physically uncomfortable to make myself smaller.
So I’m currently trying to be myself more but also not make others uncomfortable if that makes sense.
But it’s one thing to know it, and another to remember it and practice it.
It’s painful to feel rejected or disliked. It’s hard to find people that like you just for you, just the way you are (shoutout Mr. Rogers!).
I think the universe is really trying to drill this into my head, because a day or two after Sara told me, Vic Mensa released a short little video about this very same topic!
I’m working on not needing to be understood, not needing to be liked, and not needing to be accepted.
I really needed to hear this message the other day, and maybe you do to. ❤️
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This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
Go Make Things | Sciencx (2026-03-25T14:30:00+00:00) Big and small. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2026/03/25/big-and-small/
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