Stop Worring About What Other People Do

“I’m sick of people worryin’ about what I do.”

Mae West, I’m No Angel

It’s easy to say “Amen!” to this superb quote from Mae West. We all know what it feels like to have people watching, worrying and judging our every move. It gets tiresome when others are always overstepping their boundaries by focusing their attention on our lives and our behavior. And it doesn’t take long for us to build-up tremendous resentments over having people constantly taking our inventory.

Now here’s the catch: Most of us spend just as much time focusing on other people’s lives and on taking their inventories as well. We are every bit as guilty—if not more so—of the same crime.

Think about it. While we’re resenting the fact that a certain coworker keeps count of every second we’re away from our desk on a break, we are equally guilty of keeping a mental log of how often this same coworker is late for work in the morning. We do unto others what we despise having done to us, and yet we often aren’t even aware that we are equally obnoxious.

So what’s the solution? Keep your eyes on yourself! We can’t control what other people do, aside from setting boundaries by expressing how we feel. This is what Mae West does to an obnoxious coworker in the film “I’m No Angel.” She basically tells him to but-out, and we can do the same. We can also choose to focus on our own behavior and to spend more time deciding what’s right for us, despite what anyone else’s rules may be, and to do what’s right for us no matter how much anyone else objects.

We aren’t required to live by other people’s rules and regulations, or by their religious beliefs or moral choices. And, of course, no one else is required to live by our standards either. If we all spent less time trying to impose our ways on each other, we’d all be much happier.

Take time today to focus on yourself. Take your own inventory and get your own life on the right track between you and your Higher Power. And leave other people alone. Let them be who they are. If they overstep their boundaries, encourage them to focus on themselves by getting their own houses in order. Live and let live. Own your personal power and allow others to do the same.