The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k

by Sarah Knight

Not giving a fuck — crucially — means releasing yourself from the worry, anxiety, fear, and guilt associated with saying no, allowing you to stop spending time you don’t have with people you don’t like doing things you don’t want to do.

Not giving a fuck means reducing mental clutter and eliminating annoying people and things from your life, freeing up space to truly enjoy all of the things you do give a fuck about.

And guess what? You have no control over what other people think.

Believing that you have any control over what other people think — and wasting your fucks on that pursuit — is futile. It is a recipe for failure on a grand fucking scale.

When it comes to how your fuck-giving affects other people, all you can control is your behaviour with regard to their feelings, not their opinions.

As humans, we have every right to politely disagree with or not share someone else’s opinion.

For now, remember that you should only give a fuck about things you can control, and no fucks about things you can’t.

“As someone who grew up in a household full of guilt, I think it’s important for our kids to know that they can make decisions about what to care about, and that they don’t need to pay attention to the approval or condescension of other people in deciding how to live their lives.”

Once you feel guilty, you have already failed at not giving a fuck.