3 Ways to Stop Worrying About What Others Think About You

3 Ways to Stop Worrying About What Others Think About You

Our daily life can be controlled by the worry about what others think about us. No matter what it is we do and no matter who we are there is an element to this that will effect at least one part of our of day, big or small; it can be what we eat, what we wear, how we speak, how we raise our children, how we feel when we go shopping for clothes, why we don’t go to the gym, why we don’t try online dating, why we haven’t pushed for that promotion at work, why we shy away from being in groups, why we can’t drive on the motorway, why we won’t do karaoke when out with our friends or why we drink too much in social situations.

It is our perception of the people around us and what has happened in our past that lets us worry about what others think. There are many social, mental and biological reasons for why we let the idea of what others are thinking effect us but this can be changed, as fundamentally it is our conscious and subconscious that controls how we deal with our lives. By becoming Self aware and understanding what we have to do to change we can take our lives back and lead a life by what we think and feel and not letting external factors take over, here are 3 ways to do this:

1. It’s OK to be different as long as you’re happy

For many of us we worry about fitting in and conforming with what we think we SHOULD look like, sound like and act like. What we ignore, however, is what we WANT to be like and who we CAN be. What we need to realise and acknoweldge is ‘What really matters to you as an individual’. We can get so het up with getting acceptance and approval from those around us whether we know them or not. We ignore what it is we want to do with our lives and end up suffering from conditions such as anxiety and depression. We put ourselves under constant stress trying to fit in to an ideal that is created in our heads, believing that if we do not fit in we will somehow suffer in some way, when in fact the opposite happens and harbouring these thoughts will cause more damage.

2. Big Brother is not watching you

We can be taken over by the thought that everyone and everything is watching you. Think about you and your day, do you really see every single person you encounter through the day; when you bought a paper this morning can you remember the cashier? What they were wearing? What did you think about them? Or can you remember that one person that crossed the street when you were on your lunch break or those people who were in the lift on your way back? You probably don’t even remember them and if you do what difference does it really make to their life, or yours? The answer is none whatsoever.

This is what we have to realise, all those eyes that you think are on you, really aren’t. We are all so caught up in our own worlds most of the time that we don’t actually see what is going on around us so remember this next time you begin to feel anxious or nervous when you are in social situations and you will begin to see that you really are not being watched.

3. You are only hurting yourself

This is a hard thing to do even though it is in fact a simple characteristic that can be changed with ease but when we have believed and worried about what others have thought about us for so long it can take a while to undo what we have always thought and it has become an unconscious thing at times.

What we need to realise is, that if people do make judgements about us what harm can they really do, it really is just one persons opinion and why should it make a difference to our lives? Using what we think of others can be a mask for what we really think of ourselves and once we understand this we can begin to take control over our own minds and take responsibility for our own lives and thoughts.

Leading a life that is happy, healthy and resilient is something we can take for granted and for some seems like an impossible dream as we have let negative thoughts, feelings and actions take control over our real potential. It is so easy to fall into this trap but it is just as easy to fall out of it if we want to and the first step is taking that control back and feeding your subconscious the information it needs to truly realise that what others think about you is something that you cannot and should not lead your life by as it is your life, only you can lead it.