FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2017
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Politics
— Guest Opinion —
10 reasons
not to care
what others
think
By Ted Lim
Reprinted with permission
“Care about what other people
think and you will always be
their prisoner.” – Lao Tzu
It is human nature to want to be
liked and accepted. However, this
often leads to people worrying too
much about what others are thinking
about them.
This kind of excessive worrying can
have a negative effect on your life. It
can be so debilitating that it interferes
with your ability to feel at ease with
yourself and around others. Do not let
it prevent you from living your life to
the fullest potential.
Here are ten reasons why you
should not care about what others
think:
1. It’s Not Their Life, So It’s None
Of Their Business
People are entitled to think what-
ever they want, just as you are entitled
to think what you want. What people
think of you cannot change who you
are or what you are worth, unless you
allow it to.
This is your life to live. At the end of
the day you are the only person who
needs to approve of your own choices.
2. They Don’t Know What’s Best
For You
Nobody will ever be as invested
in your life as you. Only you know
what is best for you, and that entails
learning from your own choices. The
only way you will ever truly learn is
through making your own decisions,
taking full responsibility for them,
and that way if you do fail, at least
you can learn from it wholeheartedly,
as opposed to blaming somebody else.
3. What’s Right For Someone Else
May Be Completely Wrong For You
It’s important to recognize that
someone’s opinion is often based on
what they would do. This alone is the
problem. What is best for somebody
else, can be the worst thing for you.
What one person considers garbage
can be another person’s treasure. We
are all so unique. Only you know
what is right for you.
4. It Will Keep You From Your
Dreams
If you are constantly worried about
what other people think, you will
never get to where you need to go
in life. You are going to have to do
things that don’t always meet people’s
standards. You will come into situ-
ations where you have to put your
pride and your reputation on the line
to get what you want. If you are con-
stantly worried about what people are
thinking, you will never have the will
to do what’s right for you.
5. You’re The One Stuck With
The End Result
In life, you are the one stuck with
the consequences of your decisions.
For example, if someone suggests
you buy some stocks, but you just
don’t feel like it’s the right choice,
you are the only one who will live the
consequences. If the stock falls and
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
County Press reserves the right not to pub-
lish letters containing factual falsehoods or
incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or
detracting from specific for-profit business-
es will not be published. Word limit is 375
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Advertising and Opinion Page Dis-
claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest
you lose a lot of money, you are the
one that will have to live with the fact
that you didn’t follow your inner call.
When people give you their sugges-
tions or even orders, there is no risk
for them. They don’t have to live with
your choices—but you do.
6. People’s Thoughts Change On
A Regular Basis
We are constantly changing. Some
philosophers and theorists suggest
that we are in a constant state of flux,
so much that we cannot even say we
have one, specific ‘self’ (or a fixed
personality). People’s thoughts, ideas
and views change on a regular basis.
That means even if somebody does
think badly of you at the moment,
there is a good chance they will think
differently in the near future. So basi-
cally, people’s thoughts don’t really
matter.
7. Life Is Simply Too Short
You only have one life to live, so
why would you spend it worrying
about other people’s opinions? Do
whatever you want, be whoever you
want. You’re not going to see these
people after you’re dead. You prob-
ably won’t even see them in a year
from now. Live your life without wor-
rying about other people’s thoughts
and opinion, and you will live your
life to the maximum.
8. You Reap What You Sow
Worrying too much about what
other people think of you can become
a self-fulfilling prophecy. Frequently,
people indulge their need to be liked
so much so that it actually dictates to
the way they behave. Some become
people-pleasers or so submissive that
many people are turned off. The be-
havior you use as an attempt to ensure
you are liked may actually cause you
to be disliked.
9. Others Don’t Care As Much As
You Think
People generally don’t think outside
themselves a great deal of time. It is a
sad but simple truth that the average
person filters their world through their
ego, meaning that they think about
most things in terms of “me” or “my.”
This means unless who you are or
what you have done directly affects
another person or their life, they are
unlikely to spend much time thinking
about you at all.
10. The Hard Truth: It’s Impos-
sible To Please Everybody
You can’t please all of the people
all of the time. It is impossible to live
up to everyone’s expectations so there
is no point in burning yourself out try-
ing to do so. Just make sure that one
of the people you please is yourself!
Conclusion
The weight of others’ thoughts
can become a burden for you. It can
inhibit you from living your life, be-
cause your entire being (your person-
ality, your thoughts, your actions) are
controlled by an idealized standard
of what people want to see. When
you become so obsessed with other
people’s opinion of you, you forget
your own.
You can make a conscious effort
to stop giving a damn; to let yourself
free. It’s a skill that needs to be prac-
ticed, like meditating. But once you
truly understand how to let go, you
will see the world as entirely differ-
ent.
Once you give up catering to other
people’s opinion and thoughts, you
will find out who you truly are, and
that freedom will be like taking a
breath for the first time.
Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
the opinions of their authors, and have not
been authored by and are not necessarily
the opinions of The Baker County Press, any
of our staff, management, independent
contractors or affiliates. Advertisements
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services advertised.
— Letters to the Editor —
What has happened to this
country?
To the Editor:
I am so terribly discouraged by the
behavior of the ideologs in Washington.
The people there were elected to represent
ALL of the people in their districts. They
have turned into a group of sour grape eat-
ers. It’s time they stop acting like spoiled,
entitled, petulant children who are guided
by their own poor judgement and lack of
respect.
As I watched the speech of Rep. John
Lewis (D-GA) I am appalled by his
race baiting and tantrum throwing. This
man was is a contemporary of the icon
Dr. Martin Luther King. Apparently he
has forgotten his roots in the civil rights
movement of the 1960s.
I never saw the disrespect from Dr. King
that Rep. Lewis [and his ilk] is showing to
the President -elect. It is totally disheart-
ening to see the way the privileged people
in DC are behaving before the coming
Inauguration. It is so worrisome that our
elected officials are disrespecting the of-
fice of the President, no matter how you
feel about the person. Did you see this
kind of action against President Barack
Obama at either of his inaugurals? I can
tell you for sure there was none.
It’s time for the power mongers in DC
to shut up and do their jobs like adults,
not petulant children. We have bigger
problems than pressing the divide between
races in this country. This rots the core of
our very existence.
Respect the office, if not the man.
Peggie Longwell
Baker City
Cattlemen respond to
Cascade-Siskiyou
Monument expansion
By Katie Schrock,
Communications
Director for the OCA
It is with sad acknowl-
edgment that the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association
reports to you that an
expansion of the Cas-
cade-Siskiyou National
Monument in southern
Oregon was designated by
President Barack Obama;
a decision that will have a
rippling effect on ranchers,
farmers, outdoor enthusi-
asts and beyond.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association has worked
diligently in opposition
to the idea of the 42,000
additional acres of natu-
ral habitat and privately
owned property being
designated into the already
existing Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument.
Our trepidation with this
monument designation
is an opinion also shared
by the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners.
The local Commissioners
sent a letter to President
Obama requesting that the
Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument Expansion be
left on the cutting room
floor.
Common Misconception:
When a monument desig-
nation occurs, the govern-
ment tells us that current
grazing practices will
continue to be allowed.
The Reality: What hap-
pens is that when there is
a transfer in ownership
or management, those
agreements don’t have to
be honored. Eventually,
these grazing permits will
be ended.
If the roads are not
immediately cut off,
they eventually become
unusable due to limited in-
frastructure improvements
and loss of basic mainte-
nance. These roads are not
cut off just for ranchers or
loggers, it becomes cut off
for birdwatchers, hikers,
and outdoor enthusiasts as
well; an area that is prom-
ised to them to be a natural
conservatory for them to
enjoy nature.
Almost a third of the
land within the designated
monument area is privately
owned and these land-
owners are assured that
this will not change. The
government will eventually
gain these lands, however,
as owners become “willing
sellers” due to an inability
to access and profit off
their own land.
“Land that has been in
their family for generations
will inevitably be sold for
pennies on the dollar,” said
Jerome Rosa, the Execu-
tive Director of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association.
“Our western heritage and
love for the land is some-
thing we greatly value
within our association.
This is a huge hit for our
members, our communi-
ties, and our state.”
The bottom line is that
the Antiquities Act of 1906
(16 U.S.C. 431) needs to
be changed.
Its purpose was to pro-
tect important historical
sites and objects, which
has been greatly overshad-
— Contact Us —
owed with the misuse of
our current and recent past
presidents to leave their
own selfish environmental
legacy.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association is disappointed
to share this news with you
as it means a loss of graz-
ing lands, timber produc-
tion, jobs and an injured
economy as the bleak
future of Jackson County.
Statement from the De-
partment of the Interior:
Today’s 48,000-acre
expansion of the Cas-
cade-Siskiyou National
Monument builds upon
the original monument’s
goal to protect the area’s
extraordinary biodiversity.
Located in southwestern
Oregon and established in
2000, Cascade-Siskiyou
was the first monument
designated solely for the
preservation of its biodi-
versity. The monument
is an ecological wonder,
home to an incredible
variety of rare and endemic
plant and animal species,
and representing a rich mo-
saic of forests, grasslands,
shrub lands, and wet mead-
ows at the convergence of
three mountain ranges.
In October, Deputy
Secretary of the Interior
Michael Connor attended
a public meeting on the
proposed expansion hosted
by Senator Jeff Merk-
ley (D-OR) in Ashland,
Oregon. In addition to
Senator Merkley’s leader-
ship, Senator Ron Wyden
(D-OR) and then-Senator
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) had
written in support.
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