One of the things that irk me the most about some of the closest people in my life is how much they care about other people's opinions. I have spent countless hours trying to help them not be this way but to no avail.

I guess, "not giving an eff" is indeed an art! And it is something I have learned over the last few years.

Now, don't get me wrong. Not caring about other people's opinions doesn't mean that I absolutely don't listen to what others have to say. How else are you going to get exposure to new ideas and thoughts? How else can meaningful conversations take place?

By not giving an eff, I only mean shunning negative people and their opinions who don't have anything useful to contribute to my life. I think it is a vital "skill" that everyone should develop. I am going to illustrate the importance of this with an old Indian folk tale.

The Father, Son & The Donkey

So, one fine day, a father, his son, and their donkey were walking down a path in the countryside. As they were walking, they came across a group of people who looked at them and started talking among themselves, "Look at these fools, they have a perfectly fine donkey and yet they are walking in this scorching heat."

The father overheard this and made his son sit on the donkey. They continued on for a little while and came across another group of people. This group saw them and started talking, "Look at that heartless son. He is making his old father walk in this heat"

The father overheard this and made his son get off while he started riding the donkey. Again they came across some men who remarked, "This lazy old man is making his son walk while he sits on the donkey!"

Then the father and son both started riding the donkey. After a few minutes, they came across some women who started pointing at them in disbelief. They said, "How shameless you two are. Overloading this poor donkey. You are perfectly healthy people. Why can't you walk?"

The Moral

No matter what you do in your life, there will be people who will have something bad to say. They might be doing it deliberately or they might genuinely think that their idea is a better idea.

Regardless, if you started caring for every single person's opinions, you will end up nowhere! You will just keep walking in circles. What you need to do is follow your heart and listen to sane voices. Adopt ideas and thoughts based on the merits, not for the sake of adoption!