Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)

We all care way too much what other people think of us. Here’s why.

You know those people who react to being criticized by coming back with a nasty low-blow? Those tend to be severely mammoth-run people, and criticism makes them so mad because mammoths cannot handle criticism.

Some people are born with a reasonably tame mammoth or raised with parenting that helps keep the mammoth in check.

The most obvious way to find the mammoth is to figure out where your fear is-where are you most susceptible to shame or embarrassment? What parts of your life do you think about and a dreadful, sinking feeling washes over you? Where does the prospect of failure seem like a nightmare? What are you too timid to publicly try even though you know you’re good at it? If you were giving advice to yourself, which parts of your life would clearly need a change that you’re avoiding acting on right now?

The second place a mammoth hides is in the way-too-good feelings you get from feeling accepted or on a pedestal over other people.

If you’re happy and they still don’t come around, here’s what’s happening: their strong feelings about who you should be or what you should do are their mammoth talking, and their main motivation is worrying about how it’ll “Look” to other people who know them.

Mammoths are all the same-they copy and conform, and their motives aren’t based on anything authentic or real, just on doing what they think they’re supposed to do.

Source: Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)

Originally published at Cogly.