The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F_ck

victim or dismal failure. Instead, measure yourself by more
mundane identities: a student, a partner, a friend, a creator.
The narrower and rarer the identity you choose for
yourself, the more everything will seem to threaten you. For
that reason, define yourself in the simplest and most
ordinary ways possible.
This often means giving up some grandiose ideas about
yourself: that you’re uniquely intelligent, or spectacularly
talented, or intimidatingly attractive, or especially
victimized in ways other people could never imagine. This
means giving up your sense of entitlement and your belief
that you’re somehow owed something by this world. This
means giving up the supply of emotional highs that you’ve
been sustaining yourself on for years. Like a junkie giving up
the needle, you’re going to go through withdrawal when you
start giving these things up. But you’ll come out the other
side so much better.
How to Be a Little Less Certain of Yourself
Questioning ourselves and doubting our own thoughts and
beliefs is one of the hardest skills to develop. But it can be
done. Here are some questions that will help you breed a
little more uncertainty in your life.
Question #1: What if I’m wrong?
A friend of mine recently got engaged to be married. The
guy who proposed to her is pretty solid. He doesn’t drink. He
doesn’t hit her or mistreat her. He’s friendly and has a good
job.
But since the engagement, my friend’s brother has been
admonishing her nonstop about her immature life choices,
warning her that she’s going to hurt herself with this guy,
that she’s making a mistake, that she’s being irresponsible.
And whenever my friend asks her brother, “What is your
problem? Why does this bother you so much?” he acts as
though there is no problem, that nothing about the