Minecraft won't recognize me as whitelisted

[Git2Gud]

I got the server up and running in its most basic form (ie before I try to add the plugins I plan to use and set up a remote connection, all that) and I tried to join the server. It says I'm not whitelisted and therefore unable to join. I have myself listed in the parameters as both a player and admin. I'm not super experienced with any of this, so I'm just following instructions and a little lost at this issue.

I'd like to at least make sure I can get on the basic server before I keep messing with it. An alternative option would be to just turn off the whitelist. Help would be appreciated. Thanks!

EDIT: my username and uuid are also in the whitelist.json file.

EDIT 2: After setting up the ssh and messing around for a while, I got it to work. I went into the whitelist.json file and deleted my uuid, and replaced with my correct one. Don't know if that was what fixed it, but something did - and now I'm on to the plugins.