When you're young, you spend all your time worrying about what people think of you. When you're middle aged, you stop caring what people think of you. When you're an elder, you realize that nobody was thinking of you to begin with.
The paradoxical thing is that now that I've reached the age where it never crosses my mind to think about what others think of me, I'm finding that people do understand me and truly care about me - perhaps more so than ever before.
It's one of those "not doing" kinds of things.
Thanks for sharing your insights and all my hopes for your journey.