“Don’t care what other people think.” That’s the advice we hear every time we’re rejected, excluded, or criticized: “Just stop caring.” Yeah, good luck with that. That’s like saying, “Just stop being human.” Because if you’re human, it’s natural to care about what people think. That’s not a bug in the system. It is the […]

A few years ago, I had a dream that has stayed with me. I parked my car in a perfectly normal spot. But when I came back after running errands, another car had blocked me in completely. My first reaction? Blame. “You should’ve parked somewhere else,” my inner critic snapped, working overtime even in dream-land. […]