We worry far too much about what others think.
Have you ever had this experience: you have decided to commit yourself to a creative project, say a novel. And then you have to tell people about it. You worry about this. Because, what if they think its dumb that you want to do this? What if they don't think you have the talent? What if they don't want you to take attention away from them? And so on and so forth.
Finally, you get the nerve to tell them.
And they shrug.
Perhaps they are interested for a moment. Perhaps they ask you, politely, what it is about. But after that they go back to their own concerns. (Because, now, they have another one--someone they know is making good use of their time and being creative instead of watching TV every night. Dammit!)
Nobody cares. Honest.
We worry so much about what other people think. How will they react to my toothpick and glue gun creation? Will they laugh at me for my passion for Ricolas (this is, alas, in my case, true. I buy them by the bushel and eat one before I go to bed every night and I know this is really, really weird)? Will they mock me or scorn me when I express my most deepest desire to go to Fargo on vacation?
No, they won't. They'll smile and nod and go back to whatever it was they were obsessing about.
And this is good news for us creative types, people. Because it allows us to smile and nod and slink away to work on our writing.
So no more worrying about what others think, okay?
Have you ever had experience worrying about what others would think? What happened? What was the reaction when you told them?
Cool photo by anitapatterson.
