It’s funny, I’ve spent the past few days being told “keep your chin up” and “don’t give them the satisfaction” and while these pieces of advice are given with love and encouragement, they’re wrong.
Do you really think the them in question cares whether you’re smiling or not? If you’re still here, and they want you gone, your expression is largely irrelevant.
Ok, maybe it does matter a little, but let’s pretend this hypothetical “them” are the management team of your place of employment, and that this place of employment has several floors and areas, and the them are on one floor and you are on another. Just turning up makes them roll their eyes, but they get on with their lives until they next see you, which isn’t very often, to be honest.
You, on the other hand, have to be in a place that you do not like, knocking yourself out on tasks you cannot do, forcing a smile on your face so that you can “win”? No, sweetie, you’re the losing team, the definitive underdog, and this is not a Disney movie, they are not going to see the error of their ways just because you show gritty determination topped with a charming smile.
I don’t think anyone should give up at the first hurdle, but after, for example (for this is certainly only hypothetical), four and a half years of trying to prove yourself, only to be constantly berated, walking away is the only option.
“There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” Epictetus
“Do the best that can be done and then… be resigned.” Robert Ingersoll
“A more peaceful way to live is to decide consciously which battles are worth fighting and which are better left alone…” Richard Carlson
The girl who codes. The smug little know-it-all. The nasty girl who has grown out of her fandoms, but is too selfish to give up the sites. The girl who wants to be a writer of teen fiction - but not fucking vampires.