Next Exit Observations: 12/29/15

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

8 Signs You Care Too Much About What Other People Think

You dress for other people

When you look in the mirror in the morning, do you first think whether or not someone else will appreciate what you’re wearing? Having a general preoccupation with how others will accept your choice, instead of whether or not you like it yourself, is a sign you’re putting others’ opinions before your own. “Instead of ‘What do I think of this shirt?’, it’s ‘What are they going to think?’” Clews says.

You over-post on social media

“If we don’t know how to validate ourselves, we’re going to look to our external audience to do that,” Clews notes. Sometimes Facebook is the only way you communicate with certain people (an ex from high school, or an old classmate from college). You may tell yourself it doesn’t matter what those people think, but curating your social media accounts and presenting your life in the most picture-perfect way is a sign you want others to recognize and validate you. “It’s easy to get hooked, even just by how many likes you get,” Clews says. “It’s validation externally and it’s also public, so you can find measurable worth.”