It’s so easy to get caught up in other people’s opinions, what someone else thinks about your job or hairstyle or diet.  It’s also easy to dismiss your own opinion because it can feel like it doesn’t matter to anyone else. Neither extreme is a very joyful way to live. Neither approach is very truthful. While it is a recipe for disaster to give the opinions of others too much weight, it doesn’t support you to dismiss what you believe or what you feel on the grounds that they don’t matter to anyone else. Your feelings and choices matter to YOU. That’s all that counts. Think about a time when you laughed when no one else was laughing, or cried when no one else was crying. Think about any decision you made that might not have been popular but which felt right to you. Thank yourself for making your feelings a big deal.