I could never be one of those people that generously uses the term "I don't care" in situations where I have been treated poorly...and lord knows I have been treated poorly.
I will say that when someone thinks a certain way about me or says something negative about me...I will weigh that opinion heavily for a little bit. If it is something I agree with, I try to change that behavior. If I feel they are mistaken, I simply press on without giving them much more of my time.
Part of what I consider is where this opinion is coming from. Are they sharing this opinion out of genuine concern for me or that I sincerely hurt their feelings? Maybe it is more because they don't like something I did or said to them personally so they will develop whatever perception they want of me in an effort to get others not to like me.
If I feel it falls in the first category, then I cannot be mad at anyone but myself. If it is more the second one, then I allow myself to get upset for about 2 minutes. After that, it is time to move on.
I do care what people think of me because I feel we are often not as aware of our own behavior as everyone else is. However, if they are doing it because they are just malicious, I care that they are doing it, but there is probably no response or reaction I could produce that would change their hearts.
I consider myself easy to get along with, hard to stay friends with, and almost impossible to be a "bff" to anyone. I seem to have this ability that many others don't have...It's where I don't want to be friends with someone but still treat them like a human being. Why? Because I care about what others think of me and I care about what "I" think of me, too.
"I don't care" is used too much as a defense mechanism, when really it means "It hurts too much to deal with." Using it too much causes you to honestly not care...about anything. At that point, what good are you to the world or even to yourself.
I urge anyone reading this to limit (if not omit) the phrase from their vocabulary.
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