A short motivational talk by Dr. Aziz arguing that being disliked can be a strong signal of authenticity. He explains that when you act and speak in alignment with your true preferences—saying yes and no as you mean them—some people will be upset or dislike you; rather than viewing that as failure, those reactions indicate you are being more yourself and moving toward freedom and authenticity.
Do you know the most surprising, crazy sign of authenticity? It's actually when people dislike you. What? I know that's crazy. Why? Does that mean I'm a jerk? Does that mean I'm pushing people away? Now, here's the thing. When you're being fully yourself, you're creating what you want to create. You're expressing yourself in the ways you want to express yourself. You're saying yes when you want to say yes, and you're saying no when you want to say no. There's going to be moments where people get upset with you. They might not like what you created. They might not like what you said when you expressed yourself fully. Instead of hiding and holding back and just trying to please everybody without saying anything. They might be upset with you when you said no to them. And so these signs, these moments, these reflections of something upset or disliking you or something you did, instead of being terrifying, scary and a bad sign, they're actually a sign that you're being more you. You're being more free in the world. You're being more authentic and you're on track.
