Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 20 verses 1 and 2a:
Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2 And he said to him, “Far from it!”
One of the most necessary lessons we must learn in life is that at some point somebody is going to dislike us for no good reason.
The hard part is accepting this as the case, rather than internalizing their feelings with our own guilt and self-blame. This is very difficult because most of us are hard-wired to want to be liked and therefore adapt when we perceive that someone is not pleased with us or might be more pleased if we were to do something different. Most of the time that's pretty effective, but it also assumes a certain rationality in others' feelings. But sometimes that just ain't so. Sometimes some people aren't going to like us no matter what we do.
The key to surviving a situation like this is to either neutralize it or get out altogether. When somebody has it out for you, you need to do whatever you can to protect yourself and your interests. If that means quitting or moving or or going to a supervisor then so be it. Some folks just aren't rational and when that's the case trying deal rationally with them is itself irrational.
My good friend and former pastor Hardy used to say, "Don't try to make friends with mad dogs."
I'd say that's pretty good advice.
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