Confession: I Care About What Others Think – Now What?

“Don’t care about what others think!” is terrible advice. It’s short, simple, hollow, and easily thrown around by people who obviously don’t put themselves in other people’s shoes – so at least they’re being honest.

Maybe I’m projecting, but I feel like the people who give this advice also have a large, engaged, and adoring following.
It’s like a rich person telling you that money doesn’t buy happiness, but then they get upset because they couldn’t get a discount on that ski-doo they really want.

The worst part of this advice is the guilt it brings upon others like myself.
Great, so you told me to not care about other people, but no matter how many times I repeat this piece of advice to myself like a mantra, I still do. I guess people like us are doomed, right?

Otherly Impossible
If we live in a world where we don’t care about what other people think then you can go ahead and cancel your band’s gig Saturday night. You can cancel your art submission to the gallery show. I don’t need to publish this blog post and I certainly don’t need to wear clothes to work. Don’t you get it? i dOn’T cArE wHaT oThEr pEoPle tHiNk!

Other Meanings
Okay, I have another confession: I know I’m reading into this advice the wrong way. Don’t get me wrong, as a creator you should create from a place of non-judgement. Allow whatever is inside of you to emerge out into the world. This stage of creation is not the time for any external worries – worrying about what others think in this part of the process will choke your creativity.

Now that you have birthed this creative idea, how do you raise it? You can’t raise a baby in a vacuum. Eventually your baby is going to be around others.
Are you really going to be one of those parents who takes their child to public places and ignores it while it destroys every product display in sight?

To Serve Others – No, It’s Not a Cookbook
I care about others and I care about what others think.
The world is better off if we serve others.
Ideas are pure if they dance like nobody is watching, but they become a movement when we connect ourselves to the greater whole and create something that resonates with others.

If I create work and edit work through the lens of serving others, my ideas spread. When my ideas spread I get more work. When I get more work I am able to provide for others I love and care about. It’s a healthy cycle in my eyes.

So the next time someone tells you to not care about what others think – look behind them and see how many dedicated followers they have nodding in agreement about advice they all care about and mutually agree upon.

See if they are actually following their own advice.