Caring what people think

[feathermucker]

My default mechanism when stressed or anxious is to worry what people think of me. It sounds stupid and feels stupid to me, but nonetheless that's what it is.

It tends to focus on one person at a time and I analyse every interaction I have with whoever it may be at the time. That person wouldn't be aware of my feelings but it causes me a lot of stress.

I tend to revert to worrying what one particular colleague at work thinks as we had a mini bust up a while back. All resolved now.

Do others get similar and how do you deal with it? It's very stressful living like this at times.

Yeah I'm an anxious over thinker too. Have you considered Sertraline?

I was bought up with the strict underlying no.1 priority being: ''What will [insert absolutely anyone - the neighbours, the corner shop keeper, Auntie Maude who we never see, the random bloke walking past] think !?''

It's a very hard mindset to shake off.
40 years on and i'm still not actually completely free of it and yes when im having a bad day a big part of the problem is indeed being over concerned with 'what will everyone think if i don't manage to x, y or z?', rather than concentrating on feeling better.

My 4 DDs ... i've taught them to not give a fuck what other people think as long as they themselves know they're content with their own choices. I'm in awe sometimes at their wonderful independence from the dreaded 'what will they think ....'

”You wouldn’t worry what people think of you if realised how seldom they do…”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Thank you.

I've always instilled in my son to not care what people think (within reason)

I'm on Sertraline

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