October 13, 2019 MY FRIEND ISN’T INTO DORK DIARIES!!! :( Hey Brandon! I don’t know how to say this but…I have a friend who DOES NOT LIKE DORK DIARIES!!! I just can’t understand it! Suddenly I don’t know if we can be friends any more! What kind of person doesn’t like Dork Diaries?!?! What should I do?!! Dork Diaries Dilemma Hey Dork Diaries Dilemma, Okay, please don’t panic! Just take a deep breath and breeeeathe. Feeling a little better now? Great. Now, let’s talk about your friend who doesn’t like Dork Diaries. I understand why you’re upset. We all have those things we’re crazy about. It could be a certain book series (like Dork Diaries), sports team, or TV show. Sometimes we’re SO into our interests, it’s like they’re the most important things in the world! And when other people don’t think those interests are cool, we wonder what’s wrong with them. Like your friend who’s not into Dork Diaries. But here’s the thing: people are into different stuff. Your friend may not be into Dork Diaries, but they probably have other things they’re really into. Or maybe your friend is a more chill person who doesn’t get quite as excited about stuff, which is okay too. I mean, everybody has their own opinion, no matter how out in left field it may seem. If you visit a review website, like Goodreads for books or RottenTomatoes for movies, you can look up books or movies you LOVE and you’ll inevitably find people who hate them. Likewise, you can look up books you HATE and you’ll find people who LOVE them. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with these people who have different views. In fact, I think it’s important to have friends with views that are different from yours. Because if you’re only friends with people who are just like you, how boring would that be?! If you think about it from the other direction, you probably wouldn’t want anyone dropping you as a friend BECAUSE you like Dork Diaries, right? Or because you don’t like something they’re into. Also make sure that your friend is nice and respectful to you even though they may not like what you like, because if they constantly trash talk you or your opinion, then they’re not being a very good friend. And, like you said, it may be time to end the friendship and find friends who are more mature. So I say, if your friend hasn’t really given Dork Diaries a try, it’s totally okay to share why you love it. It makes sense to want to share things we love with people we love. BUT if they’ve given it a try and just aren’t into it, don’t give them a hard time for it. That would be annoying, and even more importantly, it would be disrespecting their opinion. Try to find common ground, or things you do agree on and celebrate those things together. Hey, I’m pretty sure you’ve got other friends who DO love Dork Diaries, and you can squee with them about all things DD! But if they’re just not into Dork Diaries, maybe they’ll like the book series about my best bud, Max. It’s called The Misadventures Of Max Crumbly. ☺ Do you have friends who aren’t into your favorite things? Are you not into what your friends love? How do you strike some common ground with them? Tell us about it in the comments!