What Will People Think?

I got lots of interest and feedback from my morning routine post.

Well, I say lots. I mean some.

But, it was lots compared to the tumble-weeds that normally occur when publishing here.

So, huge thanks to those of you who did get in touch; it’s always really encouraging to know that people actually read and get value from this stuff.

It also helps chase away that naughty inner narrator who has a habit of piping up with unhelpful and sometimes outright negative thoughts. Telling you that your work is rubbish. Telling you that nobody will be interested, and making you doubt yourself.

I think Marc was alluding to something similar this morning:

I was very nervous publishing that piece.

My biggest concern was that people would think that I was a control freak with my time.

That people would think I had some this weird regime going on that I couldn’t cope without.

that people would think… 

I realised a while back that my most unhelpful self-defeating thoughts were usually in some way related to me worrying about what other people might think.

It turns out it’s a really normal thing to worry about. We all concern ourselves with people judging us, but guess what? We all don’t spend that much time thinking about other people. We’re not that amazing in their eyes and more to the point we’re all too busy thinking about ourselves.

Remember back to the last time you saw someone do something embarrassing. Think bird crapping on their head, walking into a lamp-post, accidentally sending an indiscreet twitter DM publicly; that sort of thing.

What did you actually think? “Owch” or “That’s gotta hurt.” and maybe if you were feeling a bit mean or having a bad day you might have had a little snigger.

But then you’d already moved on. It wasn’t some big talking point for the next week.

I always remind myself of this when my thoughts start straying to what those hypothetical other people might be thinking.

I also remind myself that you can’t always please all the people, and that some people just won’t like you or what you do.

I then tell myself to man-up and press publish.

Some people might think those things, let them. Others might not be interested, fine. However, some will be interested and they will get some value from what you’ve written. Even if it is an account of your first hour and a half of the day in excruciating detail.

Thanks again to those of you who confirmed that you reside in the latter camp. ❤

Words: 431.

Time: 45 minutes, in between making dinner. Short and sweet tonight; I didn’t want to over-cook it (this post, not dinner!)

This post is one of 30 I wrote daily during April 2016 as part of the 30 Day Writing Challenge.