My brother casually said I "worry too much about what strangers think" and it's been bugging me for 3 days

We were grabbing coffee last Saturday at that place on 3rd street and he just dropped that mid conversation. I was telling him about how I held back from posting a question on Nextdoor because I thought people would judge my grammar. He just looked at me and said "you worry too much about what strangers think." That simple. And now I can't stop thinking about it. Like, is he right? I mean, I spent 20 minutes deciding whether to return a shirt because the cashier might remember me. Has anyone else had someone point out something obvious about your overthinking that just stuck with you?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna_craig585d ago

That part about the cashier remembering you hit close to home. I do the same thing with grocery store clerks, like I think they're keeping a mental file on every shirt I buy or return. It's funny how one simple comment from someone can just rattle around in your head like that. But I've noticed it's really just a small part of a bigger pattern where we build up these little social interactions into huge deals in our heads, when most people are too busy worrying about their own stuff to even notice ours.

logan6325d ago

Wait, is worrying about what strangers think really that bad though? Because I feel like some level of that keeps you from being a total jerk to people. Like if you stopped caring entirely, you'd probably end up being rude or stepping on toes without realizing it. That cashier thing is just basic social awareness - I bet you wouldn't want to be the person who returns stuff all weird and makes someone's job harder. And the Nextdoor thing, that's just common sense because people on there will tear apart your spelling if you give them the chance. So yeah, maybe your brother had a point in a small way, but dismissing it like it's some kind of weakness seems off. Isn't a little bit of caring about others' opinions just called being a decent person?