Are people getting to you?

Here’s a mantra for you.

Many years ago—as my then therapist introduced me to the Enneagram personality system—they said, “The world needs all kinds of people.”

I chortled and said something like, “Okaaaaay. I call bullshit on that. If that’s the case, then why are so many people legit horrible and so fucking difficult to deal with?”

Empathy and compassion were not my strong suit. This was, after all, 18 years ago when I was a new mom, a disgruntled postdoctoral fellow, and a person dealing with a long-time stalker situation.