The thing that holds us back the most, is our concern of what others think, instead of thinking about ourselves and what we want to do.

Other people's opinions

Other people’s opinions have everything to do with them, their past, their judgments and their expectations. Your truth is your truth. No matter what you do, others may always have an opinion, but that has everything to do with how they feel about themselves and what they deal with, not about you.

Your own values are important

It is important to know your values and what you stand for. What you choose to do, is not for someone else to question. You need to care about what is right for you, in the same way, they need to care about what is right for them.

Your mental health matters

Where it is good to care about others, it shouldn't be at the cost of what you want and need for yourselves. When you continue to place too much value on what others think, you may undermine your own values and what you want for yourself.

It is also important to think about feeding the soul, because without feeding the soul, we may never be in a position to help and look after ourselves.

Ilana Estelle is a mental health and wellbeing advocate who combines educational insight with her personal experience of living with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. She holds diplomas in Counselling, Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional Therapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Stress Management. Through her writing, Ilana supports others in navigating their emotional, mental, and physical health challenges. In addition to writing for The CP Diary, her work has appeared in healthy lifestyle magazines. Ilana is also the author of three books: Cerebral Palsy: A Story – Finding the Calm After the Storm, Spirituality, Healing and Me, and Survival: The Covid Years – Time for Change.

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4 comments on “Stop caring what others think”

  1. Yes, my whole life was focused on what other people thought of me and I still can't believe how much of it, I wasted worrying about it.

    Of course, I was brainwashed into believing how important that was, but in reality those people didn't care less about how I was doing. The only time that they did was when I could do something for them, but most of the time, I didn't exist.

    It's still extremely difficult for me to focus on what I want. I am finally trying to focus on what I want from my life and my life and to a certain extent life has has gotten a little better, but I still have a very long way to go.

    1. Thanks Randy. I'm hearing you and I am sure there will be many people who will resonate with your words today.

      The reality is children care, they care what their parents think, what their family think, what their friends think. They care they won't be accepted. As you say, they worry. In some cases, children may also vie for their parent's acceptance, because they care too much.

      It is important to care, we shouldn't stop caring, but we should only care about those who care about us. What is important Randy is that you are able to focus. I am pleased life is a little better.

  2. Yes, I know the anxiety we feel about what others think, but continuing to live our lives based around other people's opinions of us is bad for our health. We are not living our own lives or achieving our true potential.

    I know we are hard wired to seek acceptance, but the sooner we stop caring and start listening to our own inner voice, the better.

    1. Thanks. Yes, I think you're right. I'm not sure how many of us listen to our inner voice. The irony is 'our inner voice' knows us more than we know ourselves and yet we live with 'us' and not with it.

      From a small age we are conditioned to live our lives around family, our environment, institutions, but the spiritual side of our lives is often overlooked.

      We look to others for fulfillment instead of looking to ourselves. We care too much about what others think and fail to think about ourselves.

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