Why “I Don’t Care Anymore About What People Think” Is A Bad Idea

It is never about not caring, it is always about being healthy.

James E. McGinley, PhD
3 min readJul 21, 2022
Woman resting with head in hands.
Photo by Anh Nguyen on Unsplash

Like everyone else, I read a lot and see a lot of dialogues, proclamations, and ideas on the internet. I saw this one today. I wondered at how easy it is to take the wrong way and how easy it is to take the right way.

“I think I finally reached the point where I don’t care anymore. I am a good person, I can’t force people to see my worth.”

The wrong way.

I see a lot of anger, condescension, and disregard for others on the internet. Do people hurt us? Yes. Do we have to be careful? Yes. Does that mean we spit out in anger and abandon our connection to the world? No.

A lot of what I see is really forced, vocal defiance. The problem is that not caring about what others think is not really about defiance. It is about finding ourselves, setting healthy boundaries, and not allowing others to manipulate us.

Sometimes we scream at others as a masquerade for our own insecurities.

The person who yells the loudest, “This is just the way i am, take or leave it”, or peppers their posts and conversations with obscene words and obscene gestures is likely hiding a hidden and unhealed…

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James E. McGinley, PhD

James McGinley, PhD is a professor, author, certified life coach, and licensed counselor.