People are Preoccupied

Most people dramatically overestimate the amount of concern and attention that others have for them.

Since we have a front row seat to our own lives, and we are fundamentally self-centered in our experience of the world, we tend to think that other people will think about us and act based on things that are going on with us.

If a friend is upset or a coworker seems frustrated, we wonder what we could have done wrong. With any new event happening around us, we instinctively think about ways we could have caused it.

The reality is that almost no one is thinking about you. Almost no one is wondering about what you are doing at any given moment, or stressing to much about you at all. People’s actions are almost never in response to your actions, even if they are happening around the same time.

People spend massive amounts of their time and energy worry about other peoples perceptions of them. But those other people are just as preoccupied with themselves as you are with yourself.

So don’t worry too much about what others think about you or your actions because the reality is that they almost never think of you at all.