> The older I get the less it matters to me what other people think of me, which is liberating. When I was younger, people's impression of me was my problem. No

> The older I get the less it matters to me what other people think of me, which is liberating. When I was younger, people's impression of me was my problem. Now that I'm older, people's impression of me is their problem. Same here. But to be fair, when I was younger, my future was uncertain. I wasn't sure what will happen 10 years later. Will I get a good job? Will I have a good relationship? Which skills will I gain, and which weaknesses will remain forever? With this much uncertainly, of course I was sensitive about other people's feedback -- even if in hindsight a lot of it was stupid. Now... of course, anything can happen, and life can always change dramatically overnight... but I expect the following years to be mostly more of the same. And when people tell me what they think about me, I have more data about myself to judge whether their opinion makes sense. I also learned to recognize friends and avoid the rest of the world. So it's not just me becoming wiser in this aspect; it's that my situation has actually changed to make this one aspect much easier.