Stop Worrying About What Others Think With These Mental Tricks!
It is only normal to care about what others think of you… In fact, it is a normal part of being a human, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In a recent study, scientists discovered that the appreciation of one’s taste in music activated the brain’s reward center.
In other words, it makes you feel happy when others appreciate you! But if someone has a negative opinion of yourself, it makes sense to consider the opposite of feeling good will happen!
But the real problem arises when you get consumed by the constant worries that others’ views will affect your reputation. This can lead you to think and question your every decision. For example, what to wear, what career to pursue, and even which person to hang out with.
When others’ opinions start to dictate how you live your life, it becomes a problem. In fact, it is a sign that you need to stop worrying about what others think! To get more information, click here to learn of mental shifts which can help you stop caring about what others think of you.
Stop Worrying About What Others Think With These Mental Tricks!
Wouldn’t it be great if there were some exercises to stop caring about what others think? It would actually be great! So today, we will look at some techniques which you can use to stop caring about what others think of you:
1. People Do Not Pay Much Attention To Others
You may think that other people constantly keep thinking about you and what you do. In reality, people do not care about others as much as they believe! That’s one of the biggest truths which can help you liberate yourself from the fear of what others think.
Sure, people may pass a remark here and there, but that’s the end of it. People around you have their own lives and their own things to worry about! So instead of worrying about how other people think of you for a few seconds or a minute, you can be your true and authentic self!
According to psychologists, this is called the spotlight effect, in which people think they are constantly under the spotlight. If you want a more expert-oriented approach to countering this fear or any other fear, check out this link.
2. Positive Stories
Other people cannot make you feel or think in a certain way. It is how you interpret their behavior or form your reaction which dictates how you feel! This tells us that you are in control of what and how you feel!
Let’s assume that you have a habit of saying this to yourself: “I made a fool of myself and everyone in the room laughed!” Now, this is a negative story which sends a signal to your brain that you are stupid. This also forces you to not do the same action again to avoid embarrassment.
Instead of thinking about the event in this way, you can say something like this to yourself: “Today I performed an action and everyone laughed. I think I made people laugh and forget about their bad day!”
You have viewed the same event from a different perspective (a positive story). So by just looking at things from a positive side, you can start to care less about what others think!
3. Extend Your Social Circle
Another way to dilute a strongly negative opinion of someone else is by getting opinions/responses from a lot of people. Think of it this way – You have a half-glass of bitter juice. If you drink it, it will taste bad and bitter. But if you put that glass in 1 gallon of water, it will no longer be bitter. This is called diluting and can be used to dilute people’s opinions as well!
One way to achieve that is by meeting a lot of different people. When you meet a lot of people, there is a good chance that you receive mostly positive responses from most people. This positive response will dilute those select few negative responses!
In the end, you will care less about the negative opinions of others as you will have a whole lot of positives to think about!
4. Control Your Thoughts
You can’t control the thoughts of other people, but you can most definitely control yours! So it doesn’t even make sense to worry about what other people are thinking since you have no control over that. According to experts, it is a waste of energy and time to do something like this!
What you should be focusing on is how you can manage your thoughts during a situation! According to Amy Morin (Psychotherapist), people who are mentally strong do not pay much attention to the things that are out of their control.
So by simply shifting your focus from the things you cannot control, you will be less stressed and happier!
5. You Can’t Please Everyone
You must have heard the story of a donkey and two people. It was a classic example of how you cannot please everyone. Even if you try your best, there will always be someone who will be offended or have something negative to say!
The moment you realize that you can’t please everyone will be the moment when you will be truly liberated! Once you do that, it will leave you less stressed and will even give you more time to do the things that actually matter!
These days, a lot of people have fallen into the trap of pleasing everyone. Such people end up suffering from poor mental health and a lot of other problems. But the biggest one is that there will still be some people who will be offended or have negative opinions.
So you can think of it as a losing battle which you can’t even imagine winning! That’s why you can stop worrying about what others think by knowing that you can’t please everyone!
6. Make Other People Comfortable
Can you say with certainty that other people around you are not insecure? There’s a good chance that most of them are only doing an act of showing that they are not secure! So one of the easiest ways to tackle the situation is by making other people comfortable. When you become a nurturer, you will have no need to worry about what others think!
According to research, most of us are not good at guessing what other people are going through. So by simply thinking about making the lives of other people easier, you can start to care less about your personal concerns.
Another thing to remember is that when you make other people comfortable, it will eventually find its way back to you!
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of exercises to stop caring what others think! These mental tricks are proven and have been used by people all over the world to improve their lives and mental well-being.
For best results, it is best to start incorporating these tricks into your life one by one. Once you have mastered one thing, move to the next one and so on. Trying to implement all of these at the start may appear overwhelming – In fact, it may even lead you to quit all of them together!