Why it's OK not to be liked.

We've all been there sat and spoken to someone (maybe even someone who if in a friendship group we have) and thought 'Oh this person is lovely' only to later realise that 'this person' is in fact not lovely. They are just really good at pretending to be lovely. They secretly (well not so secretly) hate you. When I was in high school(s) it used to bother me that other girls didn't like me. Of course it did, I don't know any teenage girl who doesn't want to be liked. But five years on, I really and honestly don't mind being disliked. In fact, I find it kind of reassuring. Here are the main (but not the only) reasons I am disliked by different people.

1. I hold strong political views. I'm not ashamed to say I'm a feminist because, actually I quite like having control over my own vagina and I believe anyone who who subscribes to ideals of 'handbag feminism' is sort of missing the point.
2. Although I don't look (or aspire to look) like Megan Fox, I get on with life and allow myself to be happy and accept my own imperfections.
3. I'm very honest. If I think someone is a fake, vapid ball of ego with about as much personality as a beige room, I will make it clear that that's how I see them. 

Let's take a further look at these, people often like to feel like they are the intellectual superior of  whoever they are talking to. And here's the point; Clever people don't feel the need to try and make everyone else recognise that they are clever.
I vote for who I want to vote for. I voted Lib Dem because (apart from the clear benefit that the fee legislation would of had on students, especially those from a less privileged back grounds, had they not bent over for Cameron) I just can't get down with Labour. Tony Blair's legacy of New Labour, modelled on Clinton's New Democrats was less about politics and more about publicity, triangulation, and media stunt. I read all planned policies of all parties and then I vote. I don't hold romantic attachments to parties that so clearly don't deserve them. I am a working class female, unlike the people who make policies on it, I've actually experienced relative poverty, I'll vote for who will do the best for me.
See, that little rant? I can go on like that all day. I'm a very opinionated person. And some people can't handle opinions other than their own.

Everyone has insecurities and I've known people in the past become uncomfortable around me because I don't allow mine to run my life. That's OK, it's OK if you do. Everyone is different. it's what sets us aside from germs. ;) Honesty is a great attribute, but like most things, it can be a put off. I'm extremely honest, and although it's what makes me a good person and a valued friend, it can scare people as well.

The reason I don't resent people disliking me is; it proves to me I'm not vanilla. Not that I'm never boring, don't get me wrong, sometimes I like to sit around drinking herbal tea and thinking about knitting. Not that I'm never average, we seem to be predestined to live a life that has been reduced to a succession of average accomplishments. But there are thousands of things people could not like about me. I rejoice in them. It reassures me I'm not sitting on the fence.
'You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life'.Churchill.