How to Stop Worrying What Everyone Else Thinks

Self-consciousness can be a big problem when you’re trying to lose weight. Either you’ll feel too self-conscious to workout in public, so you avoid going to the gym or taking walks outside; or you’ll sabotage your weight loss because you don’t want to call attention to yourself by losing weight at all.

At its core, self-consciousness is the worry about what other people think of you. Most often, you feel like others are making fun of you or otherwise being judgmental. This worry about other people’s perceptions can be very strong at times, holding you back from doing the things you really want to do.

To overcome it, you’ll need to train your own mind to think about other people in a different way. Rather than worrying about what other people think of you, adopt a new mantra that says, “What other people think about me is none of my business.” Does it really matter if someone is thinking badly about you or judging you in any way? Does that have to stop you from living your life and making improvements? Not at all!

We all have a natural desire to belong, to fit in and be accepted. But when you think about it, we’re all unique no matter how badly we try to fit in. We can’t be carbon copies of other people, nor should we want to. That thought alone should make you feel better.

But you can also take it a step further and change your perception of what other people are thinking about you. You assume that they are being judgmental or unkind, but what if that’s not true at all? What if people don’t really care what you look like, or what you do? What if they are so preoccupied with their own business that they barely even notice you?

This is a great thing to focus on while you are out in public! If you frequently feel self-conscious in public, keep reminding yourself that other people are focused on themselves, not you. You are free to do what you like, exercise where you want, and no one will make you feel uncomfortable about it. Only your own thoughts will work against you, if you let them.

Adopting this mind-set takes a little bit of practice, but keep working on it daily and soon you’ll notice that your self-consciousness will begin to fade and eventually disappear altogether.

Filed under: Transformational Thursday

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