“Too Purple”
I am a Pinterest lover! I have had a personal account for 13 years (which is longer than some of you have been alive for!) and I love the travel photos, the illustrations, and, yes, the recipes because after you’ve cooked dinner for a week, you tend to run out of ideas.
I hopped on the other day for a general scroll, as one does, and came across this beautiful photo (that I immediately saved). I was like “Wow, I love the bookshelf, the pretty vase, how they placed the flowers, and the flowers themselves, of course.” Here it is below.
Pretty, right?!
I think most of us would love to have that in our living room. However, I caught a glimpse of the one and only comment beneath the photo before scrolling on. You want to know what it said?
“Too purple.”
Too purple?!
Okay, everyone has a right to their own opinion, right? I’ve never been a fan of the color orange (though mostly in clothes because it is not a good color on my pale skin), and this commenter has a right not to like purple. But it reminded me that even something beautiful still may not suit some people. Even if that seems crazy to everyone else!
I wrote a few posts ago that you can be the best, ripest peach in the bunch and there will still be someone who hates peaches out there. And you can’t do a thing about it!
Are you “too purple”?
Something I’ve learned over the last year is that you cannot make everyone like you or your writing. In fact, some people will deliberately misinterpret everything you do/say/write and take pleasure in being cruel. And you have to sit with it!
In some senses, I am too purple for some people.
However, I actually don’t think you can be “too purple.” You just have to find the people who love purple.
Now, obviously, I’m not talking about using “this is just who I am!” as an excuse for bad behavior. There are things we should change. We should be willing to hear criticism, apologize when we hurt someone, grow in character, and examine ourselves honestly. Being cruel, dishonest, selfish, or inconsiderate isn’t being “too purple.” I’ve had some people be rude in their “criticism” of Camp telling me that they hate my writing style, my POV, even going so far as to call me selfish for naming my main character “Ronan.” Alas… if they only knew how it happened…
I assure you, that behavior is not being “too purple.” That’s a different conversation entirely.
I’m talking about the things that are matters of taste: your personality, your interests, your sense of humor, your creative voice, the things you care about, and the things you create. Not everyone is going to like them. That doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong with you.
I think there’s an important lesson in that: you cannot please everyone, and you shouldn’t try to. Trying to please everyone is a surefire way to lose yourself and what you love. And in the case of writing, it’s a surefire way to write something nobody particularly wants to read.
God’s opinion is the only one that ultimately matters anyway.
So that’s the lesson I wanted to share—mostly because I think growing up, I had to learn this one the hard way.
Some people are simply going to think you’re too purple.
Let them.
There are plenty of people who love purple.
