What Other People Think of You is None of Your Business

I have struggled much of my life with conflicting internal views regarding what I perceived that others thought of me, what I knew others thought of me, & how those thoughts lined up with my own internal dialogue hasn't always been healthy or realistic. Someone who knew of my difficulties once told me something pretty profound:

Chelsea, what others think of you is none of your business.

I was taken aback. I sort of stuttered, "well, yes it is, what about my reputation??"
( Yeah pretty important on steemit.... but I digress )

I was told my reputation was what I made it which is true. If my reputation was bad, I would be constantly shunned. I'm not. Even if I had a bad reputation with one person that could be changed. It is unlikely to change a person's first impression of you or if they have a bad opinion of you, but not impossible. Oftentimes, how you left something off with a person is paramount as well. People tend to remember the end of things

I've always been a very introverted person. That's why I love my profession in physical therapy. I get to work one on one with people.
Don't get me wrong I have my extroverted side, you'd see it at a steemfest. Lol.

While being introverted can be a good attribute in many ways, it also has you in your head a lot, and probably overthinking things. For me that has caused me over the years to drastically overthink what others think about me which is obviously counterproductive at best. It has caused me a lot of undue stress & anxiety which depletes my energy.

So why is it none of my business??

1. I can't change their opinion. (Debatable, but not worth debating)
2. I can not control another's thoughts about me or their behaviours towards me.

Understanding those two concepts above has helped my anxiety a lot. As long as I do my best to do right by myself & humanity, the rest is history.

Those are some roses still hanging on in this collld weather! Anyway, hope this blog makes some sense & can help someone. Thanks for reading & feel free to drop a comment below.

(image one = Google image)