How To Not Give A Fuck
When I was 5 I used to stare at punk rockers on the train. Now I worry about making eye contact with anyone in a hoodie.
Kids don’t give a fuck. Not because they’re trying to not give a fuck, it just comes naturally to them. Their world has no limits. Everyday they are more curious about life, how far they can push boundaries and what they can show others. It’s not that they don’t care about what other people think of them, they just don't know they're supposed to care.
When I was 6 I used to roll in the grass and come home with my jeans covered in mud. Now I worry what the neighbors think when I haven’t washed my car for a week.
Have you ever wondered why you got scolded more as a child than you do as a adult? It’s not because of maturity, it’s because fear causes you to no longer be bold. When you were a kid, you didn’t think about the consequences of doing something. You just went and did it. As an adult you think about the repercussions before the reward. Your fear quickly bubbles up to the surface ahead of everything else and that stops you from just doing it.
When I was 7 I used to leave my bike out on the street for days. Now I worry someone will break into my house while I’m out getting milk.
As we work our way through the school system, we’re taught to conform. We’re expected to adhere to certain behaviors. We can no longer act with reckless abandon and expect an encouraging reaction from our peers and elders. The older we get, the more productive and useful to society we must be. If everyone took the day off to climb trees who would treat all the broken arms?
When I was 8 I used to skip school and go climb trees. Now I worry about taking a duvet day in case my boss disapproves.
Are you really that important? Are your actions that scrutinized by others that you’re afraid of making any mistakes? You are a coincidence. A beautiful miracle of a coincidence that has been gifted life. Don’t waste it worrying about what other people think of you. Start growing a layer of thick skin that absorbs criticism. Build these layers each time you get shit flung at you by staying true to your purpose. Practice watching those doubt ridden thoughts instead of living them out again and again. See your brain for what it really is…an out of date organ. Those anxious thoughts you get everyday were forged 250,000 years ago, when making a mistake meant getting eaten by a Sabre-tooth Tiger.
When I was 9 I moved to a new school 200 miles away. Now I’m afraid to move to a new company in the same town.
We get hurt when someone that doesn’t know us says something bad about us. We spend weeks sulking and telling anyone who listens how we’ve been wronged. But our thoughts are made by us. We create them in-house. They are nothing…fresh air…not of material…immaterial. You can drop a thought if it doesn’t align with your objectives. You can engineer your own selective memory.
When I was 10 I used to shoot other kids in the street with a toy gun. Now I worry I’ll be shot in the street by a 10 year old with a real gun.
You are dying. We are all on the clock. I googled the life expectancy for an average male in the UK. Then I subtracted my age from that figure. Turns out I only have 15331 days left. How long have you got left on this earth? Will there come a day when you decide to not give a fuck anymore? Why not make that day today instead of waiting for retirement or terminal illness or the lottery to decide for you?
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