Nobody is thinking about you as much as you think they are.

I used to walk into a room and feel like I was being watched.

How I looked.
What I was wearing.
How I talked.
Whether I sounded stupid.
Whether I was being awkward.

And the weird part is, I was doing all of this while barely thinking about the people around me.

Then I started noticing something.

Everyone else is doing the exact same thing.

They're thinking about what they said.
How they looked.
Whether they made a good impression.

Most people aren't sitting there analyzing you the way you're analyzing yourself.

And honestly, realizing that was kind of freeing.

It doesn't mean nobody will ever judge you. Some people will. That's just life.

But I think there's a huge difference between:

"Someone might judge me."

and

"I need to make sure nobody judges me."

The first one is out of your control.

The second one can completely control your life.

So lately, when I catch myself getting self-conscious, I try to remind myself:

They're probably thinking about themselves too.

And if someone does notice something awkward I did?

Whatever.

I'll probably forget about it tomorrow. They'll probably forget about it too.

I think confidence is partly realizing you don't have to perform perfectly just because other people are around.

You can just... exist.

Do you guys ever catch yourselves assuming everyone is paying way more attention to you than they actually are?