I Don't Care by: Brianne McGann

Brianne McGann '11
& current SLIC Staff

I have spent most of my life trying to be perfect. And, I certainly haven't been perfect, which has led me to a lot of self-criticism of not being enough. Not smart enough, not pretty enough, not social enough, not organized enough, just not good enough. Striving to be perfect and feeling like "I'm not good enough" seem to be very common in our society. As I was reading through the list of phrases, "I don't care" stuck out because it has helped me the most in letting go of being perfect and accepting who I am. It's not the "I don't care" that we say when we really do care, but just don't want to talk about it. Or the "I don't care" of not deciding what restaurant everyone should go to for dinner. It's the "I don't care" of letting go of the worries that don't matter to be able to be more successful in the things that do matter. 

I have often struggled with the tension between standing up for my values and beliefs and being liked by everyone. In a previous job, my values were put to the test a lot. I am a rule-follower. But, I came across a few situations where the rules that were supposed to be followed weren't in the best interest of the group I was working with. I could have told them to just follow the rules- because I didn't want to get in trouble for telling someone to break the rules or didn't want to take the blame if what was happening went terribly wrong or didn't want to set a precedence that rule-breaking resulted in good. Often, after wrestling for quite some time, I came to the conclusion that I didn't care about what my boss would say or if it all turned out wrong because I knew why I was doing what I was doing. I was willing to face the consequences if something did go wrong, but letting go of the worries and the "what ifs" allowed me to get something done! "I don't care" can be pretty powerful and though it's often considered an apathetic phrase, sometimes, saying "I don't care" helps get work done. 

#11:  “I don’t care.”

Being able to discern between what’s important and what’s trivial is a skill that will save your sanity and your schedule.