_{For us to be happy, class, and smart, there are two things we must do: don’t take things personally and don’t be easily offended.} 

_{Of course, there are people who make rude, unnecessary, unkind, and hurtful comments. But no one can offend us if we refuse to be offended. People’s words are just words. We are the ones who give any meaning to it. If someone calls you crazy and you know you’re not crazy, you’ll just shrug and move on with your life because you know it’s not true. Why react to something that you think and know is not true?} 

_{When we feel offended, we are voluntarily acknowledging that what they say is true. Sometimes we take things personally because we’re already afraid that it’s what people think about us in the first place. For example, if you’re wearing a sexy outfit and a guy wolf-whistles at you, it’s not because he’s checking you out that you feel offended. It’s because you’re already worried about your ‘image’ and what people may think about you that makes you react that way. We can think that a person’s behavior is not right without being offended by it.}

_{The strange thing is, we think that feeling offended make us look good, like we have better standards or morals, like we’re fighting for a good cause. But the truth is that feeling offended just feeds our feeling of self-righteousness without actually addressing the problem. Feeling and acting offended is the easy way out because to actually address the situation or problem takes work. If someone had cut your queue, it takes more work to say “Excuse me, sir. There is a line.” And less work to stand there fuming in silence and feeling offended. Feeling offended leads us to complain bitterly and constantly feel like a victim because we’ve been ‘wronged’.} 

_{It doesn’t matter what people’s intentions are. We have the choice to not let our ego drive us to take anything personally. If there’s a problem, we address it.} 

_{Be smart, be classy, and be happy, always.}

_{— Xandria Ooi}