People care so much about what people think of them. I used to too until I realized how ridiculous my thoughts were. The caring brings symptoms of self-loathing, self-doubt, and self-restriction. Have you ever questioned that before?

I used to find myself doing things I didn’t want to do instead of doing things I wanted to do for the simple sake of pleasing others, but now I realize how useless that is. There’s a few reasons you shouldn’t care, so let me take some time to lay each one out for you.

First, you shouldn’t care because they probably don’t care as much as you think. Everyone is so self-absorbed that there’s no way they could possibly notice the things that you think they do. While you’re worried they might notice the wet spot you got on your shirt from washing your hands, they are distracted in wondering if their pit sweat is obvious. All the while, you don’t even realize that they are literally sweating a hole through their t-shirt as you walk right by.

Second, confidence is all that really matters. Ever notice the person who wears the most ridiculous outfits but totally gets away with it? Or the person who can walk up to a group of people they don’t know to ask for help? Or maybe the person who can easily recover from a trip by laughing it off? That’s confidence. It’s knowing that what you are doing is good and right just because you are doing it. It’s consciously not caring what people might think about you, because you realize that their thoughts aren’t based in the same reality as yours. When you do something with confidence, people will always believe in it. What I’m getting at here is that caring about opinions will never get you to that state of self-assuredness it takes to truly be confident. And if confidence is what it takes to pull anything off, isn’t caring a waste of time?

Third, your happiness means more than theirs. This life you are living is yours and yours only. You’ve smiled, laughed, and cried, but other people probably only know a sliver of information about those experiences you’ve had. If they don’t approve of what you’re doing it’s not really your problem! Their discomfort is created by a perspective that can’t possibly understand what you’ve been through. At the end of the day, you’ve spent your life building up to who you want to be. Why let some rando’s useless opinion stop you from embracing that? If it makes you happy, Henry will have to survive the disappointment and find someone he approves of. He will get over it. I promise.

Fourth, if what makes you happy bothers them, they really aren’t worth wasting your time on. Like I said, you’ve lived this whole life full of experiences. If someone isn’t willing to take the time to step back and get to know some more about that life you’ve lived, why are you willing to take the time to change your behavior? If they don’t care enough to ask you about who you really are, they probably aren’t trying to be your best friend. Also, they probably aren’t that cool because who wouldn’t want to get to know you? If they just got to know you, they’d understand why you love what you love. Why some things mean so much to you. Why you spend so much time with certain people or doing certain things. If the things you like aren’t good enough for them, then they probably aren’t good enough for you.

Finally, opinions can't be proven true or false. How can anyone base their behavior on something that is so baseless?

In conclusion, do what makes you happy for the sake of yourself. The fact that whatever you do makes you happy is all that matters! You've got this one life to do all the things you love. At the end of the day, no one else's opinion can change that. So my last piece of advice and what I constantly say to myself, don’t let bit$hes kill your vibe.