5 Ways To Make Yourself Care Less About Others’ Opinions

Because yours matters the most.

Humans’ survival instincts have been pointing at being careful about others’ opinions as survival requires a co-existence among others. Even though it may be important to co-existence harmoniously with others, the effects of the opinions may have been overestimated. Although groundless gossips and criticisms can spread and harm a person’s reputation, it is often only in the false aggravating accusations that can result in messy situations.

Generally, humans prefer peace over needless fights. Despite so, it can be argued that the bloodthirsty warlords enjoyed wars. However, I do believe that the warlords were only able to find peace within themselves after being certain that they can no longer perceive threats around them. This also means that they are trying to keep their peace through incessant wars.

Nevertheless, our opinions are confined only within our experiences and so as the others’. At the same time, no one can have the exact experiences as someone else. Hence, there is a difficulty to discern whether the opinions are harmful, beneficial, or neutral. Therefore, the best thing we should be doing is to understand ourselves enough to move through life with less influence from external sources.

Incidentally, we tend to fall back into our cultivated habits of taking others’ opinions as of more weightage than our own despite being most in touch with ourselves. Hence, as to keep ourselves in touch with our hearts, here are some ways and explanations to make you care less about the opinions of others:

1. Compliment or encourage yourself
   Compliment or encourage yourself each time you get a chance because everything in existence is being meticulously made. The well made complexity can even be seen in a single hair cell that may be too small to be seen by our naked eyes. With it being formed by sacred patterns that are currently beyond our understanding, it can be difficult to ignore the conscientious work put into all there is.
   e.g. Praise yourself for the little achievements that you have done when seeing your reflection in the mirror in the restroom or glass doors; like waking up on time, having brushed teeth, getting well dressed, etc.
2. Everyone is seeing through a different lens
   Remind yourself that everyone is seeing through a different lens at reality. Therefore, no one sees things exactly as you see it. Everything is in a constant state of change to time. Hence, at every moment in time, the perception is different from the previous even if seeing from the same location. This also means that one man’s meat may be another’s poison.
3. Everyone has limited knowledge
   The amount of knowledge that all of us have is confined within our experiences and inputs of new information to us may change our impressions about a situation or thing. As such, it can be difficult to pinpoint which of others’ experiences are beneficial for you.
   e.g. Decades ago, humans thought that the earth is flat until certain information is being discovered which made humans accept the earth as round. Even now, some may still feel that the earth because of information that makes it seem so.
4. The one you that no one can replace
   It may be cliche to state that everyone is unique and everyone has a special part to contribute to the world. Nevertheless, at any given point in time, no one can occupy that space that you had occupied. In other words, if you had sat on a chair at noon, that chair is exclusive to you at that time. Incidentally, even the world is subtly treating your existence with great respect.
5. You already have the answer
   You may feel clueless about the purpose of your life after spending years with others speaking about the need to find a purpose in life. However, the purpose may end up becoming finding a purpose, which leads to a paradox. Fortunately, all of us naturally desire to be happy and fulfilled. It also means that the thing that you naturally seek is your joy, which may and may not be dependent on others’. Therefore, regardless of the opinions of the others, your focus on your joy will filter most of the unessential noise outside of you.

I do hope this is helpful in any way. =)