A few years ago, I saw a production that was so bad that when it was over, I texted my friends and said, “it should be illegal for a director to misappropriate funds like this in order to put on this poor of a production.” I honestly felt upset that it was allowed to be put to stage. How many hours of rehearsal and how many thousands of dollars were spent mounting this shocking production?

A few months later, that show came up in conversation with someone I knew from that theater. They asked if I’d seen the show, and I began trying to formulate some polite comments about it to sustain a conversation. The other party then told me that they thought it was the best show they had seen all year.

I had a sort of out-of-body experience… and suddenly, something that I’ve always been told but had never quite internalized made complete sense.

Read more: Everyone Else has Sh*t Taste, and Why That Matters as a Performer

People always say, “you can’t please everyone…”

It’s an obvious truth. There are just too many other people on this planet to try to appeal to everyone. Tastes are complex, personal, cultural, and often based on myriad subconscious impulses we aren’t even fully aware of. Why would you bother trying to please everyone? It simply can’t be done, you’d go crazy trying.

We say things like “not everyone has to like us,” “sometimes we have to agree to disagree”– many of these sayings ultimately mean the same thing, don’t they? The idea is simple: trying to please everyone is futile. You just can’t always get other people on the same page, and you have to be okay with that.

I understand that part. An element of that conversation that I think is often missing is the fact that other people by and large are not worth impressing.

I don’t say this to be a misanthrope. Other people can be great! Other people are some of my favorite people.

As an exercise, though, think about the worst influencer you know, or your least favorite actor or author, and remember: those people have an audience. There are people who follow them, people who consider them their favorites, people who would be willing to sit and argue with you about how excellent their content and artistry are.

In one sense, this is a ringing reminder that there’s no reason to get down on yourself for feeling untalented, or unlikeable, or unmarketable. Also, it’s a reminder that a lot of people do not share your sense of taste. In fact, their taste is the exact opposite of yours.

And they’re not alone. There are a lot of people out there who will vehemently insist that the worst thing you’ve ever seen in your life is the best thing they’ve ever seen in theirs.

When you participate in the arts, inevitably, you will encounter people who simply will not like your art, and no amount of self-improvement or artistic diligence will change that. You could practice your art and master your craft until the product is, to your eye, absolutely flawless, and others would still hate it.

Instead of letting this get you down, instead of sighing and thinking “well, I can’t please everyone”– remember that some people just have sh*t taste.

In fact, maybe even most people have sh*t taste. After all, since you can’t please them all, the only person whose taste should matter to you is you.

Let them be happy with their sh*t taste. You can make your art without them.