Do you do worry about what people think of you?
By sharra1
@sharra1 (6340)
Australia
August 28, 2008 12:45am CST
I find that the older I get the easier it is to do things that I want to do, dress the way I want to, wear my hair as I wish and not worry about what other people think of me. I remember once watching a couple of older people dancing in the street to a jazz musician and I thought it would be nice to just do as you felt the desire to do and not worry about being stared at or feel people giving looks of disapproval.
Do you do the things you wish to do and not worry if other people stare at you or not? I am not talking about breaking laws or anything just being who you want to be even if the people around stare at you as though you have broken some social rule, like not wearing a bra, wearing clothes that other people don't like etc. Dancing on your own just because you feel like it and not caring if what people might think.
3 responses
@bestisyettocome (1531)
• United States
28 Aug 08
I used to be the biggest worry wart of this type of thing. Now I don't even care, and it may even be me dancing in the street! My best friend says that I've come a long way! I don't know if it's my age, or just that I'm finally comfortable with myself. Sometimes freakish is cool and bold, and it will really raise your self esteem. Worrying brings it down! I'm so happy that I've changed in a way that makes me love me!
1 person likes this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
28 Aug 08
I am so glad you have learned to love yourself. I am also not sure if it is age or just learning to be comfortable with yourself and learning to love yourself. Maybe it takes us so long to do this sometimes that it does not happen until we are older.
I agree that being bold can raise your self esteem and that is so good for you. Worrying is never good for you but sometimes it hits and can be so hard to get rid of.
I have come to the conclusion that worrying about what other people think is one of the best to get rid of and you can only gain from it.
@bestisyettocome (1531)
• United States
15 Sep 08
Thank you for best response...I will show my friend this! I will have to thank her too!
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
19 Sep 08
The British scientist James Lovelock (The Gaia Hypothesis) said that the nicest thing about passing fifty is that you can be as eccentric as you damn well please. Perhaps they should put him on Grumpy Old men lol.
It is the flip side of ageism - because we are old(er) the young ones, in the arrogance of their youth, think we don't matter, and so it doesn't matter what we do. They think we're strange enyway, so why not take advantage of it?
It is truly freeing not to have to worry about what others think.
Lash
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
19 Sep 08
This is one of the fun parts of getting old. There has to be some good points to it cause there are lots of other things about getting old that are not fun.
Yes the youth do seem to regard us as not mattering. I think this all comes from the cult of individuality. No one matters but the individual. I think it was a shame that someone discovered the ego and made such a big thing out of it.
@property (453)
• United States
28 Aug 08
i'm definitely guilty of dancing in the isles of the grocery store. :) Actually i've been dancing to the beat of my own drum for the last two decades. It seems that anytime i've ever worried that people might be over analyzing me, it has distracted me from me being me. People seem to respond better to "real" people, than people just faking it.
1 person likes this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
28 Aug 08
I agree that if you get concerned about people analyzing you it distracts you from being you. Well said. I think dancing in a grocery store would be fun.
It took me many years to learn to just be me as my mother was obsessed with what other people thought and brought me up with a fear of other people judging me.
Now I have learned that it does not matter what other people think. My mother was a strange person. I think some of it came from being married in a foreign country and being criticised by her in laws instead of supported. She was born in England and came out to Australia as a war bride so she was totally separated from her family and way of life and did not have a happy time out here. She tried to bring me up to be invisible. I had trouble breaking the bonds.
