The sentiment behind this type of talk is nice, but it ignores a reality for many. That is, if you were raised around violent or toxic folks you probably give off unsettling vibes to "normal" people. So normal healthy people can't quite put their finger on it, but back away slowly from you. You know who doesn't? The people who also have that violent or toxic vibe normalized in their lives, they'll come towards you to be a validating victim or a violence perpetrator or often both. It becomes a vicious cycle which reinforces alienation from the people around us.

I spent many years being a really strange and toxic person. When I started to get better I spent many years almost completely alone, and in many ways I'm still there. I am still deeply strange, and I have a sincerely hard time understanding what others think about anything let alone me, but to say I don't care is inaccurate. Not caring what others think is a bizarre goal.

Humans are social animals and it matters what your boss thinks about you, what your neighbors think about you, or what that attractive person yonder thinks about you. There are real life ramifications for these things. To pretend that's not the case is not a path towards navigating reality.

But sure, if you've been a lying manipulative people pleaser with no sense of your own personal identity then sure it's maybe a good step to take to try not to care what people think about you 🤣

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I have mixed feelings about the “don’t care what others think” philosophy.

I’ve historically been firmly in that camp but over time, that slogan along with the tiresome “be your authentic self,” has been hijacked by all manner of depraved perverts / trannies trying to force others to accept their misguided life choices. For many, the “don’t care what others think” line gradually morphed into “force everyone to accept my messed up view of reality.”

There’s this beautiful narrow path though where one can truly not care what *most* people think, while valuing the opinions of a select few, learning from them, and naturally attracting others with similar beliefs and goals.

The idea of “I don’t care what others think” often stems from:

1. Attention seeking

2. Disrespect for others or self

3. Lack of individuality

4. Self-presentation anxiety

A healthy individualist cares what others think but doesn’t make it their identity. They see through the noise, knowing self-respect is the foundation of respecting others.

It should be, "sort to find people who's opinion of you is worth listening to."

We all fall into biases and need checks. To not care what others think, is essentially killing your own empathy. We protect our empathy by making sure we're surrounded by people that we respect and love and then trust their opinion when we go astray.