How to stop caring what people think.
Whatever you are going through in life, the chances are probable that you have at some point cared about the opinions of others.
Whether it be from your parents, internet trolls, or colleagues at the workplace, we tend to place immense value on what other people think.
Ultimately, we often care about someone else’s opinion more than our own.
Due to a natural craving of social acceptance, we evaluate our success based on the thoughts of other people. It’s easy to overthink what people are thinking of you, how they perceive you, and an instantaneous rush of all your insecurities come to mind.
But nobody is really thinking about us as we walk down the street. We are too busy being focused on ourselves. We are simply a blip on the radar within someone else’s life.
There have been times in the past where I felt insecure because of a remark made by strangers on the streets. Other times, it can be a simple comment on a social media post that forces me to question my life choices.
Why did I do this? Am I good enough to succeed? What will people think if I fail?
Those questions have a special meaning to me because I can relate. They were always running through my mind, keeping me awake at night, and stopping me from achieving what I wanted in life.
I had to adjust my mindset.
So I changed. I began exploring what I truly wanted in life, the science of receiving validation from others, and how to finally stop caring about what other people thought of me.
I learnt that the only permission, the only validation, and the sole opinion that matters on our quest for greatness is our own.
Seeking validation will keep you trapped. You don’t need anyone or anything to approve of your worth. When you can understand this, you’ll be free.
During a time in which humans were living in caves thousands of years ago, nobody wanted to feel excluded for fear of being left behind. Self-acceptance was mandatory for survival. So naturally, we have developed a tendency to follow the status-quo of society.
People now care about the opinions of others to such an extent that their entire self-worth is wrapped up in how strangers perceive them. Instead of showing the reality of who they are, many portray a false narrative to gain social acceptance from peers.
We are all at different stages of life & come from diverse backgrounds. But we owe it to ourselves to develop a society in which our happiness isn’t tied to the opinions of another person.
It is our obligation. Our duty. Our responsibility to create a world in which we are more accepting of others.
Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have. If you do not accept who you are, how can you expect others to do the same?
The general scientific consensus is that the odds of being born are approximately 1 in 400 trillion.
You can choose to spend your life caring about the opinions of others, or you can live solely based on who you truly are.
When you put everything into perspective, it becomes incredibly easy to be thankful for this opportunity to create a meaningful impact on the world. One life. What are you going to do with it?
If you are only paying attention to all the hate and criticism on the planet, you will never get an opportunity to see how much positivity there is.
If you are feeling influenced by negative people, consider removing them from your inner circle (or at least spending less time with them).
If you are getting negative comments on your YouTube videos or Medium articles, try not to take anything personally.
If somebody has the time to consume a piece of content and then proceed to leave pessimistic thoughts, it’s just a reflection of how bad their own life is: they are merely using you as a way to voice their inability to create something meaningful for themselves.
What do you want to accomplish in life? What do you enjoy doing? How can you reverse engineer your actions to achieve your ambitions? Allow yourself to embrace optimism.
Life is too short to waste time waiting for other people’s approval on how to live it.