What’s one thing you know now that would have saved your younger self a lot of pain?
Don’t worry so much about what other people think of you. Don’t be self-conscious. Most people don’t mind or care about the details you obsess over.
Self-consciousness is based on the idea that you are so darn important to other people that they watch you like a hawk every moment of the day. They look at how you’re dressed, how you walk, how you smile, how you talk. It’s like being in a straitjacket while tied down under a microscope. But the truth is, most people really don’t pay that much attention to you.
Not to say that you should shove your way into a line, throw cats off balconies or go outside in your underwear. There are boundaries, so stop getting weird ideas. Anyway …
Going through life, day after day, I am slowly but surely learning to let go of that piece of vanity that makes me believe people watch and judge me always. Do some people actually judge me? Probably. But should I care? No. How can I control what others think or feel?
When I worry about others’ opinions, I am trying to conform to what I think a favorable impression should look like. So, I get tongue-tied because I obsess over the perfect words. My body turns stiff and awkward because I’m afraid I don’t look or move right. But when I relax and let myself be myself, that stress goes away. A pity I learned it so late in life.
Most people really don’t care.
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Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life. Occasionally, I try to be funny.