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"People experience people differently." ~ X
I was watching a video today, and the person said, "Siblings do not have the same parents." In my head, I was like, "You say what?" But then it was explained, and it actually made sense.
Come to think of it, the way your parents treat you is often different from how they treat your younger or older sibling.
Every child gets to experience a unique side of their parents. For instance, the last born is often treated with a little more warmth. They get to experience the more relaxed side of their parents, while the first born is usually raised with stricter hands and higher expectations.
Growing up, I had so much freedom. I was the child who could wake up one morning, decide I wanted to attend a camp meeting the next day, pack my bags, and leave. It still baffles my siblings because if they wanted to do something as simple as visit a friend, they either had to sneak out or come up with an elaborate excuse. Me? I'd simply say, "I'm going out. I'll be back before it's dark," and my dad wouldn't even object.
Did you catch that? I experienced a softer side of him.
In the same way, you and I experience people differently. We could meet the same person yet walk away with completely different experiences. The version of someone you know isn't necessarily the only version that exists. It's simply the version you've encountered.
Someone else can genuinely fall in love with the same person you had the worst experience with, not because your experience wasn't real, but because theirs is different.
Dearest reader, I feel like the sooner we understand this, the easier relationships become. This is one of the reasons I don't inherit enemies. Yes, we're friends, but the fact that you had a horrible experience with someone isn't enough reason for me to write that person off. I'll be careful, of course, but I'll also give myself the chance to experience them for myself because, again, people experience people differently.
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