I read the same message twice a few days ago from completely different sources, so maybe it’s worth thinking about.
- Dilbert says to Dogbert: “What can I do to fix my social anxiety?” Dogbert replies:
- Try keeping in mind that no one cares about you whatsoever. – Dilbert, September 28, 2021
- Tom Brady, ageless quarter back of the New England Patriots and last year’s Superbowl winner while playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in a conversation with Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal:
- You think people care what you think, and then you care less what people think, and then you realize no one cared, anyway.
- Both of these remind me of something I say often to whomever will listen:
- You’d worry less about what people thought of you if you remembered that people aren’t thinking about you at all. They’re thinking about themselves.
Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. (Psalm 142.4, ESV)
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. – Jesus (Matthew 6.1 – 6, ESV)
Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. –The Apostle Paul (Galatians 1.10, NLT)