How I Learned To Not Take Things Personally
Follow these two simple strategies.
Our brain produces about 50,000 thoughts a day and only 10,000 of them are positive thoughts. When about 80% of our thoughts everyday are negative, we are bound to take some things personally right?
Hey guys! In this article I’ll talk about the two strategies I found useful to not take things personally.
With the amount of strangers and friends we interact with everyday, there are some instances where their actions can feel targeted towards us in a bad way right?
Take me for example, if you live in a Asian country, academics is treated as the most important thing of your life. If you are not good at it and get bad grades, chances are you will not be treated well by your teachers and sometimes even by your parents.
Think of another scenario where you were very excited to go on a trip and a friend cancels it last minute.
We tend to take these things personally and hold a grudge.
It is not right to treat us bad.
It is not right to take decisions without considering us.
But about the person on the other side?
Is it always about us? That transitions into our first strategy,
#1. It’s not about me
Sometimes we have to understand that life can get in the way of things not only for us but for others as well.
Maybe the friend that cancelled the trip had an important meeting on short notice or an emergency they had to attend to right away.
We are all so desperate to be understood that we forget to be understanding towards one another.
The teachers and parents that scold us for not getting good marks likely have no personal vendetta against us, they probably want what's best for us and that is completely understandable from their perspective.
We have to shift our focus from ‘me’ to ‘we’.
Perspective is everything. And that leads us to our second strategy
#2. It’s about me
None of us are perfect by any means of the imagination. It is sometimes us who have to improve ourselves.
When we drive slowly on a highway for checking the map and a car keeps honking behind us, it is not always the car that is at fault for honking.
Maybe the car behind is in a hurry and we can drive faster or pull over and let him go ahead. There is nothing to be taken personally here. Just two people living their separate lives.
We have to be open to change and correcting ourselves when necessary.
We have to treat others the way we want them to treat us.
It’s taxing on our mind to always take things personally, we close our heart to others.
Try to understand others so that they may understand you.
If you read this article till the end then I urge you to be the change. Spread positivity and it will surely come back to you. Have a wonderful day!
If you are interested to know why I started writing on Medium, click here
