When No One Cares

Be wild and run free!

People care less than you think. But, see, that’s actually a good thing. Let me explain…

Many of us are extremely cognizant of our self-image and seek to preserve it at great lengths. Society feeds us the notion that ‘making a good impression’ is something we should all strive towards. We want people to like us, and many go out of their way to avoid being vulnerable, ashamed that showing any perceived ‘weaknesses’ may forever estrange us from those around us.

So, what do we do, seemingly to protect ourselves? We put on a show. Equipped with a smile, we’re ready to fool people into believing that we are everything the people around us are. And that makes us feel good. But does it really?

As someone who’s been through a major depressive episode in my late teenage years, I became skilled at playing the part. I seemed put together when inside I was falling apart. My demeanor and image were nothing short of a happy-go-lucky teenager… at least that’s what people would tell me.

Personally, I was amazed that people around me bought into this so easily. I’d think to myself, are people really this blind? Do I NOT just look like a spent the whole night crying my eyes out? Do you not see me isolating myself and being the biggest loner of my graduating high school class?

Well, it turned out no one knew. Not my peers, not my teachers. The only reaction that spurred some interest was when I had to leave school early, when I felt an impending panic attack. Oh, and let’s not forget, the time when the news of my seeking psychiatric help became equated with my being suicidal. It was only then that people seemed to care. Even then, those were only people with whom I’d communicate about my struggles. Everyone else? Practically, clueless.

What I’m trying to explain here with this personal anecdote is people care less than we think, see less than we believe, know less than we may assume, and remember less than we anticipate. Living in a very self-centered world certainly has something to do with this. Perhaps, in times where the Internet, social media, and everything else my generation does (of which I am blissfully unaware) did not exist, people were forced to pay more attention to people and situations around them. But…

Related posts:

Every week we send the same list of questions to a different founder from companies of all sizes. Each week we get new answers, insights, perspectives, and tips on how we all can shine a bit…

sebelum kita belajar bagaimana sih kalau mau belajar IoT, alangkah baiknya kita harus tau apa itu Internet of Things tenang guys, kita bisa menginstall software Arduino di laptop kita sebagai code…

To become the go-to for automated trading, we are investing into proprietary machine learning tools for our bot creators. Now we are happy to announce the closing of a funding round with local and…