To All My Haters,

“Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.”

-            Kobe Bryant    

To all my haters,

               It’s a fine line between love and hate. Y’all on the wrong side and you know it.           I respect your commitment but it’s time to come to your senses.

               I see where you’re coming from, hoping you can steal my spot at the top and everything, but know that I earned my place here and don’t plan on moving anytime soon. I’ve worked and worked and worked and can say I deserve what I’ve got. It’s an earned position, one that can be mine alone. I’m open to sharing, but you’d have to get on my level, something I don’t expect to happen anytime soon. Like Messi and LeBron, I’m just built different like that. I am to academics, tennis, and basketball what Usain Bolt was to sprinting: an unabashed icon who stops for no one.

               I was born at a young age, and it’s been hustle culture ever since. The academic grind never ceases. One assignment down, the next one up. One game ends, and the next one starts. I’ve been knocking down challenges like I’m Mike Tyson and they’re a bunch of those punching bag machines you see on TikTok.

               Maybe my haters don’t even exist, a mere fabrication of my own creation. I truly may have created their concept to promote my aggressive pursuit of my ventures – it isn’t beyond belief. I once heard that Michael Jordan refined this practice, motivating himself to repeatedly strive for greatness. My own haters could present themselves in the same way. They are the feeling of self-doubt, those voices in the back of your head expecting nothing but failure. Proving them wrong brings satisfaction, meaning to meaningless activity. You might as well overcome them; who’s ever happy to say they wish to fail?

               Picture a Cadbury crème egg in the middle of an abandoned clearing, resting on a 10-ft stone pedestal.

               “You can’t get that it’s too high up.”

               “You can’t get that, it isn’t for you.”

               “You can’t possibly be that big-backed to put work in for a chocolate egg,” you haters speak in unison.

               Are you going to let these detractors speak for you? You love chocolate and are more than capable of overcoming these issues. Of course, you’re going to go get the Cadbury crème egg, even if it means dragging that smaller rock over here to jump off.

               Haters only serve to strengthen you in your pursuit. If there are no haters present, you’re either doing it wrong, or you’re just Keanu Reeves. Even Jesus was despised in his life. It’s hard to hate people who aren’t doing anything in their life. Change is difficult and often looked down upon, but it’s frequently the optimal path to bettering the world. Resistance is natural. You cannot ask why we hate, because it is truly human. It is a mere unfortunate facet of life that change will accompany hatred.

               Of course, you probably don’t want to encourage this hatred. It’s not that much fun to work in an environment where your mortal enemy in Tina from HR. Fun communities are a necessity of a prosperous lifestyle. Your workplace should be a haven, where teamwork prospers. Jeff from down the hall will always be mad that your office has a nicer window view and a marginally perceptible plushier chair, but hopefully you can break bread and talk about last night’s NBA playoffs matchup.

               I hope you never stop hating, for it pushes me to my limits. A byproduct of hustle culture, the most successful will often have the most hatred. Jealousy will persist, no matter your action. And yet, y’all haters will nip at my heels, refining my form until I achieve perfection.

Collins

Any thoughts on the general structure? Any overarching feedback is appreciated. Open to many changes.