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You’ll Always Care What Everyone Thinks

Pretending you don’t only causes problems.

Jessica Wildfire
5 min readOct 16, 2018
ShotPrime Studio

It’s popular to say “I don’t care what anyone thinks.” Especially at bars, after someone stumbles into a crowd of people. Let’s get real. Of course we care. Most of us spend more time than ever on our public image. That’s why we say we “don’t care”all the time now.

We want everyone to know we don’t care what they think. We assume it makes us look invincible. But this proud declaration, often accompanied by a hashtag, only hides our insecurity.

It’s not a solution, just a convenient lie. The more you tell yourself other people’s opinions don’t matter, the more it will hurt your relationships, your career, and your creativity. What other people think about you has a real impact on what direction your life takes.

It’s not easy to pull apart whose opinion matters, and how much. You’ve got to develop an ear for it. Not everyone who likes you will always tell the truth. And not everyone who criticizes you is lying.

Pretending you don’t care doesn’t shield you from what other people think. It only delays your ability to process your emotions.

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