Lately, I’ve been thinking about life. About the meaning of life, our purpose on earth, our determination to succeed and most importantly our viewpoint of life. And I decided to start observing people. How they socialize, how they respond to an issue, what they do when faced with an obstacle, how easy they give up, how hard they work to get what they want and what values they live by. I just wanted to understand what their lives are like.
So, after a week of walking around and carefully observing people’s behaviors, I realized something. As humans, we’re driven by our dreams. When it comes to fulfilling our deepest desires, we are ready to do whatever it takes. But, in the process of pursuing what sets our soul on fire, we tend to give too many f*cks.
Admit it. We constantly obsess about things that aren’t important and simply don’t matter. We constantly worry about things that are beyond our control. It’s somehow always more important what others think about us than what we actually think about ourselves.
I get it. We all have emotions and certain triggers. Therefore, there’s no such thing as not giving a f*ck. We simply must spend our f*cks on something. However, we mustn’t forget that in life, we only get a limited amount of them. That is why it is very important to use them wisely.
Here are 4 things that we should all stop giving f*cks about:
1. OTHER PEOPLE’S OPINIONS ABOUT YOU
Don’t waste your time and your precious energy on deciphering who said what. People will always talk. That’s just what they do. Hatred and gossip are the only things that keep some of them alive. And let’s face it, what they say about you has nothing to do with who you truly are as a person. What Susie says of Sally, says more of Susie than of Sally.
So, stop giving your power to others. Stop seeking approval. Stop worrying that no one likes you. Stop letting their opinions about you influence YOUR opinion about you. If you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will.
2. YOUR PARENTS’ DREAM FOR YOU
Okay, they are experienced and mature people who’ve been through more than you. They struggled to make ends meet, they faced many obstacles together, they raised you and your siblings into honest and kind individuals and they are older than you. So, according to that logic, they know what’s best of you.
Hell no. I spent so much time following that stupid idea that in the end, I made the biggest mistake of my life. I chose a college I did not want to go to just to satisfy my parents’ dream of becoming a successful lawyer and carrying on the family business.
So, yeah. Stop giving a damn what your parents want and start focusing on what your heart craves. If it’s art, choose art. If it’s biology, choose biology. If it’s cooking, choose cooking. Just remember, what your heart needs is more important than what others expect from you.
3. WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
Oh, dear… When I think about how many years, I’ve spent worrying about things that were supposed to happen one way but ended up another, I feel like crying. Not because of the fact that life didn’t turn out exactly the way I wanted to, but because of those wasted years.
Stop obsessing your mind with coulda, woulda and shoulda. They do not represent reality. They are the definition of a parallel, faraway universe that probably doesn’t even exist. Instead of wasting your f*cks on what could have been, start focusing yourself on the present moment.
4. YOUR FAILURES
People nowadays are so terrified of failing that some of them have even stopped trying. It’s crazy. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that is not how life goes. You cannot find happiness if you only focus on the pink side of life. You cannot learn the most valuable lessons if you don’t fail first.
We shouldn’t be afraid of failing. That is the only way we can identify our weaknesses and then work harder to improve ourselves. Failures are indeed stepping stones to success. The thing is, not everyone is aware enough to understand that.
