So many people live their high school lives worried about what people will think or say about them. There’s obviously a reason people feel this way. Teenagers are mean. People in general are mean. As much of a hard realization as this is, people need to accept that what others think and say about them doesn’t matter at all.

Anyone who judges others on basic things, like just living, is not a person you should even care to get the validation from anyways. Nothing will ever satisfy a person like that, and it is exhausting to try to do so. You will spend so much of your life trying to please them, and one day realize that it was all for nothing. Someday you will regret not just doing what you truly wanted to do.

There are very few people my age that don’t care what people think. The truth is, if you find one of those people they are either loved or hated by most people. You know what though? That doesn’t matter! As long as you are mindful of others around you, especially in what you say, you will most likely be loved by most people. The reason why there are hated people who don’t care what people think is because most of the time they can be insensitive to what they say and do. When I say “it doesn’t matter what other people think,” I don’t mean to not care at all, you should still be cautious of how your actions and words may affect others. What I truly mean is that you shouldn’t hold back from expressing your love for something or someone, doing something that will make you happy, or talking to someone who people might find embarrassing to talk to. Don’t ever feel ashamed for being kind or simply being yourself.

Yes, there will be people that judge, but most of the time people actually just don’t care! Everyone is not watching your every move, trying to find something wrong. There’s a book that I’ve been reading for a while now called “The Purpose Driven Life,” by Rick Warren. It is full of many wise lessons, but there’s one quote that sticks out to me the most. Warren wrote, “True Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” I take this as a message that is saying spend less time think of yourself and live in the moment. Be engaged in the present and stop worrying so much about how you are being perceived by others. It is saying that you need to recognize that you are part of something so much bigger than yourself. Connecting these dots, especially at a young age, can absolutely change your life for the better.

With everything said, just do what you want. Make someone else’s day better by just being in it. Don’t surround yourself with people who judge others, and try to make friends who you will never have to worry about that stuff with. Try your best to not judge others. Remember that they are just humans. It is their first time living too, and why should you be the reason they feel like they can’t live their life without worrying about the opinions of others? You shouldn’t. If you keep the judgement from others out of your head, you will find that ultimately you feel free to be yourself.