There are people in this world that you’ll like immediately.
You might warm to up other people over time as you get to know them better or as your circumstances change. It’s much easier to like someone when you’re not competing for the same cozy bread hole, for example.
At other times you’ll meet people that you’ll never learn to like at all.
Maybe your personalities will clash. Your values could be coming from such wildly different places that you’ll fail to find any common ground at all. Both of you might have interests that won’t overlap no matter how far you stretch them.
Likewise, there will be people in this world who like you instantly, gradually, or not at all.
None of these are bad things. It really is okay.
I know I’ve mentioned this before on my blog, but it bears repeating. You don’t have to like everybody. Not everyone has to like you, either.
Life isn’t that simplistic.
Not liking someone doesn’t mean you stop being polite to them, but admitting to yourself how you really feel about them can make it easier to treat them with kindness.
There’s something so freeing about loosening these expectations.
Friendship is a gift. It’s not something you can demand from someone or have demanded from you. Liking someone is also a gift, so it’s something you must decide to give. Demanding it would be like demanding a smile from someone who was frightened or sad. What you’d actually get in that situation would only share the most superficial resemblance to the real thing.
So relax and allow things to develop however they will. I promise that it will be okay.