You can’t please everyone.

“If everybody loves you, something is wrong. Find at least one enemy to keep you alert.”

-Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho was a famous Brazilian writer. He was born in Rio De Janeiro during Brazils unstable fourth republic. As a child, he longed to exercise his creativity and someday make a career from it. His parents strongly disapproved of this idea. In a misguided attempt to save him from a life of hardship they had him committed to a mental institution. He was 17 years old at the time. He managed to escape three times before finally being released at 20.

When later in his life he was asked why they did this he said...

"Because I wanted to be an artist. Artists, you know, they starve to death." And " It wasn't that they wanted to hurt me, but they didn't know what to do... They did not do that to destroy me, they did that to save me."

In an attempt to please his parents he enrolled in law school only to find it unbearable. A year later he would drop out to become a world travelling hippie.
This disappointing those who wanted him to live a different life.

When he finally returned to Brazil he found work writing songs for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Raul Seixas.
The work he did for Raul again disappointed many and led to him being associated with magic and occultism in a very catholic country.

Other attacks on his work surfaced when, because of his travels, he was accused of stealing his hit songs from other artists not known in Brazil.

In 1974 he was arrested for supposed subversive activities and tortured by the government which was now run by the military. They viewed his lyrics as liberal and dangerous.

In 1986 six years after getting married he walked the 500-plus mile Santiago de Compostela having what he called a spiritual awakening.

It was after this that he truly gave up on pleasing others. As a result, his writing career began to see real worldwide success. It was during this time he wrote classics like The Pilgrimage, The Alchemist, and The Valkyries.

Paulo spent much of his life upsetting those around him just by being himself. Eventually, he came to terms with the fact that other peoples ideas about who he should be were not his concern. In return, he found happiness and success.

When living the life you're meant to live there will always be people who oppose you. If that life brings happiness into the world take pride in that opposition. See it as a badge of honour and don't let it discourage you. Instead, let it guide you towards those things most in need of your attention and fuel your desire for improvement.

-Jason Brown