“Good morning,” says one of my coworkers as he enters the office.
I want to say good morning back but he’s looking at her, not me, so maybe he isn’t wishing me a ‘good morning’… maybe he doesn’t want to talk to me because he doesn’t like me, or maybe he doesn’t even notice my presence at all… so I won’t say ‘good morning’ back because I don’t want to talk to anyone if they don’t want to listen.
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I feel plagued by thoughts like these pretty frequently. One destructive thought after another like a stack of dominos gradually contributing to my undoing until I’m a heap of pieces on the floor.
The trigger that started it all: a simple ‘good morning’ said by a fellow coworker who may or may not have directed it toward me.
We can get into all sorts of trouble when we try to read minds and make assumptions. So what can we do when we’re just dying to know what other people think about us?
Let go.
Sure, if it’s appropriate, you can find a delicate approach to communicate your feelings to someone and maybe they’ll be open and honest with you. Whether you ever find out what someone’s opinion of you is or not, however, shouldn’t matter.
What matters is what you think of you. And you can always choose to validate yourself.
Realize that you are a living, breathing, human being and that that is reason enough to be worthy of love. So start by loving yourself. Empower yourself. Lift yourself up with kindness toward yourself because that is what is in your control.