COLUMN: Haters will hate

At some point in your life, you are going to encounter a hater. No matter who you are or what you do, there is always going to be someone who resents you.

There is a difference between a person who does not like you and a hater. A hater is someone who talks about you behind your back to others. They will always go out of their way to bring up your name in a conversation, just so they can talk about how much they hate you.

But you should never take the opinion of a hater seriously. Doing so is a waste of time and will only get you down. Haters are always going to hate, because hating is what haters are best at.

In order to keep a hater from getting to you, you must be able to identify who they are and why they hate you so much. Once you understand where haters are coming from, you will never let them get to you ever again.

Haters are envious of your achievements. If you are smart, talented and/or successful in any area whatsoever, haters will never be happy for you. They want what you have, but are almost never willing to work for it.

Haters are insecure. They lack self-esteem and feel the need to compete with everyone around them for attention. They belittle and intimidate you because they are jealous of your charm and confidence. Demeaning others is the only way haters can feel better about themselves.

Haters are uninformed. More often than not, they have their minds made up before they’ve even met you. They are not interested in understanding where you’re coming from, especially if you have sincere intentions. They don’t want to admit how wrong they are about you.

Haters are just plain mad. They’re bitter because they’ve never gotten over the bad things that happened to them. They are disillusioned and bored. They would rather complain about their problems than fix them.

The best way to deal with a hater is to ignore them and everything they have to say about you. Acknowledging a hater is only going to bring you down to their level, and you have far more important things to do than change the opinion of a negative, spiteful person.

There is one advantage to having haters; haters are free publicity. As long as you keep the haters hating, others will become curious about who you are and what you have to say that makes people hate you so much. There’s no such thing as bad press.