10 reasons why you should stop caring what others think of you

Socially anxious people tend to always worry about what others think of them. They can be fearful of making a fool of themselves and being insulted or ridiculed. Usually this is due to past traumatic events that has made them so concerned of those occasions. They tend to try and avoid social events and situations for fear of it happening again. We really shouldn’t worry so much and try to learn to stop caring what others think.

Having a nervous feeling about social situations is natural to the majority of us. When we experience difficulty or feel out of control it can make you extremely anxious. The socially anxious feel there is a danger or threat to their well being. Then, this is when they must try and realise that even if someone is mocking them ( although highly unlikely ) that they need to learn to stop caring what strangers think. Allowing a fully lived life.

In this article we discuss ten reasons why you should stop caring what others think and some suggestions of how to start to put this into practice.

1. No One Knows What You Have Lived Through, Stop Caring What Others Think

Some of us have really difficult life challenges that we have had to face. No one knows our inner story of the past that we have had to bare and live through.

It is a painful reality that others, unless close to you, don’t care where you have come from. Unfortunately, what you have had to experience in life isn’t part of people’s perception of you. When you meet people, they make assumptions about each other from the present moment.

The importance lesson to learn about this situation is that you know the storm you have faced was real. It was painful but you survived it. You can be proud knowing that you overcome something that a lot of people wouldn’t. Many in the same circumstance would have likely crumbled.

You shouldn’t care what people think of you because you know that you have weathered a vicious storm. You are strong, keep that in your mind at all times.

2. Stop Caring What Others Think. Others Do Not Pay Your Household Bills

You know that person who really insulted you or made you feel small. Did they pay your electricity bill last month? No? I thought as much!

We shouldn’t care what others think of us because they have no bearing on our lives. They may have hurt us emotionally but that is all. We tend to give too much emphasis on what others think of us. The truth is, it really doesn’t matter. In reality, those that do try to judge us or put us down are not worthy of our time or attention. We should only truly care about the opinion of those who have mutual care for us.

You shouldn’t care what people think of you because they don’t contribute any value to your life.

3. People That Laugh Or Ridicule Others Usually Have Their Own Personal Issues

It bothers me greatly when i see people judging or mocking someone. They know nothing about the pain they are causing, but usually, the person who is giving the judgement has many problems of their own. By focusing attention on others they take away attention from working on themselves.

You shouldn’t care what people think.  Those that create gossip tend to be people that have their own life issues that they need to attend to.

4. Great Minds Discuss Ideas , Average Minds Discuss Events And Small Minds Discuss People

Don’t care what people are saying about you. Even if they are talking about you, it shows the level of intelligence of that person. Like Eleanor Roosevelt once said

‘great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people’

Spend your time working on ideas and ways to make your life and other’s lives better. You will find that you stop caring what people think as much as you used to. If you have a goal, an aim and a purpose to work towards, knowing you are doing good by doing it then keep doing it. You will find that you’ll stop caring what others think of you. Turn your attention and mind to things that matter to you.

You shouldn’t care what people think because those that gossip are of low intelligence

5. Does What Strangers Think Really Matter?

Acceptance from others is an inbuilt human trait that we constantly talk to ourselves. Wanting to look good, feel good, maybe improve our wealth and have a higher status than our fellow neighbour. It can be so difficult to ignore but when we truly think about it, why do we want it? Is it to be accepted by the rest of society rather than for our own comforts? Really, it is probably due to the prehistoric nature of when we used to need to be in a tribe in order to survive. This is no longer a necessity so no longer matter what others think.

What others think of us really doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are happy in ourselves and enjoy doing what we do in life.

6. It Drains Your Energy

Trying to see or hear whether people are gossiping about you all the time is extremely draining. You are also wasting your valuable energy on things and people that don’t add value to your life so why care?

You should only focus your energy on things that really matter to you and your life. Worrying whether people are talking negatively about you will only make you feel tired.

What others think of you really doesn’t matter. You are wasting your energy on things that you could use on positive activities

7. Stop Caring What Others Think. It Is Impossible To Please Everybody

Some people will like you and others won’t, it is a fact. You can never please everyone and you will meet people that don’t think the same as you. So stop worrying about what they think. Stop trying to fit in or get acceptance and just be yourself.

You should stop caring what others think of you. You will always find people who will think the same as you and others that don’t.

8. People Don’t Care As Much About You As They Do About Themselves

The reality of life is that if you listen hard to conversations people have they rarely talk about the other person’s life. Most of the time, people like to talk about themselves and their life more than anything else.  To them, it really is the most important thing that exists in the universe.

As you become aware of this you will realise it is a very common occurrence and that most people are actually very self conscious (even those that appear very confident).  A good book to read about the psyche of human behaviour and this analogy and some human behaviour is through reading ‘How to win friends and influence people‘ book.

You shouldn’t care what other think of you because they care mostly about themselves.

9. You Are Saying Their Opinion Matters To You More Than Your Family And Even Your Own

When we listen to others insults and opinions of our own character we are saying that their opinion is more valid than that of our own. We are accepting what they say to be fact. If we think about it, we are festering our thoughts on hurtful words and/or actions. The words make us only feel awful and unmotivated to do important tasks or enjoy ourselves.

You should stop caring what others think of you. Fundamentally, the only person’s opinion of you that truly matters is your own.

10. It Will Stop You Living A Full And Fruitful Life

When you decide to avoid social situations for fear of ridicule, insult or judgement what you are doing is letting others stop you from living a full life.

There will always be people who will judge you. There will also always be people that admire us or that are indifferent to us. But if we listen to the negative comments , smirks and ridicule that we have experienced in the past we are not living a full life.  There are so many amazing things to experience in this world when we stop caring what others think.

Don’t care what people think about you because you are stopping yourself from experiencing life to the full.

What Can We Learn From This Post To Stop Caring What Others Think?

To stop caring what others think of us is probably one of the hardest things to overcome for us all.

To survive in prehistoric times our brain was first developed for survival. Being social, fitting in with the rest of the people in the community. We were a part of a pack and it was an important part of survival. Yes, it is true, this instinct is still genetically inside of everyone of us.

Luckily, being a part of the pack isn’t as important as it used to be to survive . If you develop your intelligent and rational mind and balance your emotional side you can survive solo. When we realise this, caring what others think about us also isn’t as important as it once was. Actually, caring what others think of us or gossiping about others truly IS a lack of an intelligent mind. It was a trait from early man when we used to gossip. So next time someone is insulting you just know, they are using their prehistoric brain rather than their intelligent developed one. Envision them as cavemen/women because people who ridicule basically are prehistoric!

Unfortunately, we still have these natural tendencies in our brain to want to be liked and accepted. It is why we have seen the likes social media apps being so successful. Most of us think it is important for survival, and also to help us live a more fulfilling life. To some degree, it still is important for getting a good job, a nice partner and admiration for our achievements in life. But it is not a necessity, you can get by quite successfully without having to worry about what others think of you.

In a future blog post we will discuss ways in which you can use some strategies to try to stop caring what others think about you into practice for a more peaceful mind.

If you have any suggestions about why you should stop caring what others think, please please leave a comment below.