Re:Ask HN: I'm 18. If you were my age what would you do diff...
by taylodl on Tuesday September 24, 2024 @12:23PM
(#41638197)
It certainly sounds like you "understand that experience is often the best teacher"!
As far as not caring what others think of you - I believe it comes with age. As social animals I believe we evolved to care a lot about the feedback from others while growing up since that helped us get along and survive in our tribe/clan. As we get older, we're the ones providing that feedback. Plus, survivorship bias makes us think our way must be right. That's why old people get cantankerous.
Fortunately I don't have a problem with not making mistakes, I made a great deal of them (and many more to come) as I have been trying various online ventures for 7 years now (from youtube and freelancing to startups). And in the end some of those ended up working so well I make more than most of my school teachers do per month.
Finally, I wish I knew how not to care about what others think of me. I'm trying to find a way not to worry about it, but I'm still trying to figure it out. I think this will go away with age, as it is with most bad experiences we have in life; the cure to those experiences is to relive them again and again and realise it's not as bad as we make it up in our own heads.