I do. I have heard all my life (and said it myself) “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me”. But is that true? Is there really the person out there that truly doesn’t care what anyone thinks about them? That’s hard for me to believe.
I care what people that know me think about me. I want them to think that I am a good person. I want them to think that I am a good wife and mother – that I have a good and productive life. I want people to think that I am smart. I want people to think I am trustworthy and a good friend to them. For people that don’t know me, well, I care what they think about me too. Not in the way just described, but that I appear to be a decent person. This means even in the grocery store or gas station (insert giggle giggle). As discussed in one of my previous Giggle Chogs, I too go out in public sometimes looking awful. No shower, maybe straight from the gym all sweaty, or maybe just having a grungy day at home and I need to head out for something quick. I do it, but I don’t like what people may think about me while I’m running that quick errand, and God forbid I run into someone I know (insert giggle giggle)!
What about being polite to people you don’t know. Smiling at someone as you are approaching them. Giving a quick wave or gesture to someone while you are on a jog that is running toward you. Helping someone you don’t know with a quick task or picking something up that someone drops. Does all this sound more like a blog about being nice – maybe. But if you didn’t care what anyone thinks about you, why would you do any of these things? So, lets look at that a bit…..
Have you ever come home with a story to tell about something you witnessed while in your car, at a store, or at your place of business about something that somebody did (either that you know or don’t know and may never see again)? I think we all have. I bet a lot of times this type of story revolves around somebody behaving in a way that made you (and maybe others) take notice about this person. Who behaves like this? In what world is this okay? That’s so odd or just plain weird. How does this person have a serious job if this is the way they act, look, or dress? It seems that daily, more and more, people’s odd behavior (what is odd btw?) is overlooked. We aren’t supposed to think something is odd or out of normal behavior bounds. The “you do you” philosophy. Is this what it means when people say they don’t care what anyone thinks about them? I guess so….
There is a very funny series of commercials produced by an insurance company (I think) that shows young people turning into their parents and this commercial is trying to help them “not” become their parents – these real-life situations are hysterical! One of them shows a group of these young people in a large store and a person walks by them with some bright-dyed color of hair (maybe blue?) and otherwise outrageous dress. Of course, these young people (acting like their older parents) stare at this person and the “facilitator” steers them away from looking at this person by saying something like, “everyone sees this”, maybe meaning that this person is so outrageously out of the norm that everyone can see that and there’s no reason to underscore this by looking at this person incredulously. Everyone knows that this is not okay…..this message seems to say.
So, people that are walking among us, every day that are maybe dressed so wildly or seductively, hair shades of every color in the rainbow, tattoos and piercings all over their body – are these people precisely the people that can genuinely say, “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me”…..or precisely the opposite? Do they crave and want people to think about them? Interesting.
I got this idea just this morning when I was thumbing through a magazine. The incredibly popular celebrity on the cover very proudly states in the article about her life, that she doesn’t give 2 sh**s about what anyone thinks about her. Please. This person devotes pretty much her entire existence to doing what she knows people will like about her, enjoy about her, and therefore pay money to come see her. She even has a life-style home line launching. So, are we supposed to believe that no thought or preparation goes into anything she does in her life (or in her new home wares line) that targets what other people want and think about her and about the products she’s putting out, herself included? Again, please.
I am a nobody and I care what people think about me. I think each and every one of us cares what people think about us. I’m not saying that every decision I make, I make with the thought in mind of what people are going to think about it or about me. But some I do. I know I have said sometimes that I don’t care what anybody thinks about what I am about to do or maybe what I did. Maybe it’s like any other over-used cliché – it really doesn’t mean exactly that – it’s just an “expression” not rooted in absolute. The other day I said (about something not really that bad) “well, that’s worse thing I’ve ever heard!”. Obviously, it wasn’t, it’s just an expression. So, I think when people say, “I couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about me”…..”I don’t care what anyone thinks”…..let’s all just give it the width of scope that it really deserves. We may not care what everybody thinks about us….but we certainly care what somebody thinks about us.
Next up…..Do You Wish These Words Didn't Exist?
Always remember to insert a giggle giggle ~ Kay 😊
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