The Art Of Not Caring

woman with hands on her hips
Pietra Schwarzler

There’s a saying that is derived from the idea that wherever you invest your time, there lies your heart. In layman’s terms, this means that you are most present for the things that matter to you.

We all have our own priorities and agendas which highly differ from individual to individual. But regardless of what’s important to you, your integrity will always shine through in your actions. The tough part is just choosing what you care most about and how to handle situations as they arise. For everything else that doesn’t matter as much, we can just wing it.

Unfortunately for me, I’m the kind of person who gets easily flustered, easily agitated, and easily worked up over virtually anything.

Fortunately, I have recognized this flaw and became much better at getting a handle on myself whenever this happens.

The key to handling these situations is mastering “the art of not caring”.

Now, don’t get me wrong when I call it this – I know that this article title may be a little misleading, but hear me out.

What I mean when I say “the art of not caring” is learning how to pick and choose your battles. You have to learn to choose what will fluster you, agitate you, or get you worked up. At the end of the day, you are ultimately in control of your own actions and emotions. You can ultimately decide whether you want to be frustrated or not and whether or not you should even care.

We have to learn to not care so much about the things that don’t really matter.

At the end of the day, not everyone will like you. Not everyone will agree with you. Not every experience is a walk in the park.

Failure happens. Heartbreak happens. Life happens. 

We need to spend more time focused on the things that matter – Our friends, our family, our mental health, our overall well-being. And we need to spend less time on the things that take away from what matters.

In life, we can’t choose the cards the are dealt to us. We are faced with thousands upon thousands of decisions each day. From the minute we wake up to when we lay our head to rest at night, we are constantly faced with decisions that can potentially affect the trajectory of our whole lives. Whether it be as drastic as quitting our job or as simple as deciding what to have for breakfast, we never know the impact that may follow.

We cannot predict the future. We can only use our best judgement based on the information that we have at hand and react accordingly. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Writer, Runner, Singer, New Yorker

Keep up with Lindsey on Instagram, Twitter and lindseylazarte.com

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