As much as I try my hardest to live a life that doesn’t allow the opinions of others to bother me, I’m human, and therefore fuck up every now and then. Not just with living this mentality, but with just about everything. Ain’t nobody perfect, despite how many people try to give this impression.
I firmly believe all of us would significantly benefit from adopting the mentality that the opinions others have of us is none of our business, and it is absolutely one that has helped me to become a more confident and secure person over time. It hasn’t been something that occurred immediately; forcing oneself to lose interest and concern toward the perception of others isn’t exactly an instantaneous happening. But, like anything when given time and effort, progress occurs and grows.
I’m not going to pretend I don’t let what anything someone says or thinks bother me, because I would be lying. I still have feelings and emotions, and they still are hurt by opinions and beliefs of others on occasion. If I’m feeling a little lacklustre in my commitment to not giving a shit about what others think of me and am affected by something, I try to put it out of my mind, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll allow myself to experience whatever emotions accompany the belief or thought bothering me. Once I’ve processed it and can understand why this particular occurrence broke through my resistance, I can move forward and contonue to maintain this ideology.
Life is far too short to enable it to be controlled by the beliefs and opinions of others, let alone to allow them to control or limit our happiness and individuality. Chances are, if someone thinks you have to drastically alter who you are to better suit them, they aren’t terribly happy with themselves.
ontheedgeofeverything 
