For a long time I was treated as “a strange one”, called odd, and spent a lot of my life telling myself that being a little different from other people was a bad thing.
But when I look at someone now, if I swap “strange person” for “someone with real character”, they become fascinating and interesting.
So I have come to love character, and the people who have it.
Even nowI still get laughed at as “strange”, but surrounded more and more by people who tell me my character is interesting and lift my sense of my own worth, my life keeps getting more enjoyable.
There is a certain hair salon in Wakayama City.
Called Maegami Beauty Salon — a place I had wanted to visit for a long time. I finally made it, and a dream came true.
There, I found people and a space that genuinely enjoy their own character.
Having character means having strong preferences, which in a sense makes you easy to see as “odd”.
But I think it is precisely because of preferences that are hard for other people to understand that it works.
Clear likes and dislikes, a stubborn streak — surely that is exactly what lets you commit fully to what you love and walk your own road without being pulled around by other people.
Going somewhere I had wanted to go, and having my own sense of worth lifted there, made it a wonderful space.
Even when people call me strange, call me odd, I am not going to let it get me down or deny myself — if anything, I want to carry more confidence.
Having character means having an appeal that ordinary people do not have.
Let’s enjoy our own character, more and more.