Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Food For Thought: Other People's Opinions

Apropos of nothing, I was thinking today about a quote I recently heard:

"What other people think about you is none of your business."

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? And Why?

Cxx.

6 comments:

teddi said...

I'm fairly certain I DISAGREE. First, if people are giving me accolades, I sure want to hear! Second, if people are discussing my shortcomings, I'd like to know. Self-improvement is a daily activity for me.

MCW said...

Well...I disagree for the most part. I value what other people think about me and most of the time their opinions can only help us grow. However, if they were nasty and mean-spirited than they are none of my business and maybe they should mind their own!

UESBikramyogi said...

Agree. I pretty much gave up on what other people think of me years ago. Of course I want my friends to let me know if I'm doing something that upsets them, but people in general not interested. To put it bluntly, either you like me or you don't, and if you don't OH WELL!

LPC said...

In the personal world this is fine. In the work world, your reputation is your best asset, so you have to care. A lot.

MoxieMoron said...

Oh that is SUCH a good thing to remember. I have a hard time with that one. Always wanting to know what others are saying or thinking...but what can you do? They will think what they want to think so you might as well just sit there with your head held high, feeling confident in your decisions (which is why you should make good decisions whenever possible) and just fuck those motherfuckers. This is also why it's great to have really strong friendships with great people, for example YOU CJM, so that when the "others" get you down you can at least feel good knowing there is a handful of people out there who think you are really great. No matter what.

That being said - there is a fine line between "not caring what other people think" and not having any self-respect. For "I wear pajamas to work because I don't care what other people think" vs. "I'm going to be honest about my feelings because I don't care what other people think". Does that make sense?

I think it can be incredibly freeing for a person, like myself, who is a self-identifying "pleaser" and "control-freak" to realize that you can't please everyone and can't control what some people think or say about you. So let yourself go and just be you!

BLC :o said...

I sort-of-kind-of-agree. I find it too exhausting to keep up with what people think about me. So long as I act with the best of intentions, why even worry about it!? Great food for thought. Xoxo-BLC