I had to stop caring about things in order to move forward in my life.

Two words we should say more often:

Fuck it.

And then just do things the way it feels right to us.

In the last six years, I realised that there are things and habits and beliefs that I need to untether from in order to live my authentic truth.

In many ways, I needed to stop caring about stuff and say fuck it, because it enabled the life I live today and the mindset to do what I do today.

I really hope this video will inspire you to also care less about some things in your life and start living your own version of an extraordinary life.

Check it out here:

 

9 things that I stopped caring about that completely changed my life.

I hope this inspires you to stop caring a little less about these things, too, and see what happens.

 

1. I stopped caring about what other people think of me.

It’s a huge game changer when you realize that it really doesn’t matter what other people think of you.

The reason why this changed my life so much is that I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. Making videos, putting photos on Instagram, writing really personal posts, Facebook lives – I couldn’t do any of that if I was caring constantly about what other people thought of me.

I can only make myself this vulnerable, be this authentic and go for it because I don’t give a shit anymore.

It doesn’t mean that I don’t take criticism to heart, because I sometimes still do, even though less and less and less. It’s just a learning process you go through.

I’m only able to do all of this because I don’t care what other people think.

This doesn’t mean I don’t care about what you think about me. I care so much because I make all these videos and I want to inspire you and change your life. But if I was to care about everybody’s opinion and whether they judge me, if this too much, can I talk about this, or do I look okay – it would all be for nothing.

One day I allowed myself to be me. And being a blogger and vlogger, that’s what we do. We put ourselves out there.

There will be people that judge me. I know it and I hear it. Some people leave bad comments but I know that that’s going happen anyway – so just do it and not care.

I love what I do and I love inspiring people, but I wouldn’t be able to do it if I cared too much about what other people thought of me.

 

2. I stopped caring about what day of the week it is and what time of the day it is.

I can do that because I’m in a place like Nicaragua where it really doesn’t matter whether it’s a Saturday or Wednesday. But the reason why this is important is that I’m creative when I’m creative.

I’m not just creative between Monday and Friday, nine to five. I can be super creative and super productive on a Sunday morning or a Saturday at 11:00 PM.

I work whenever I feel like I want to work and when I want to put stuff out there. That can be very different to what we’re taught.

The reason I wanted to have this free lifestyle of being a location-independent entrepreneur and doing my own thing was that I wanted to be in charge of when and where I work, what time it is and what day it is. I want to be able to control all of these variables.

 

3. I stopped caring about how other people do things.

Basically, I stopped caring about conventional ways that things are done. I stopped caring about society tells me to do. And, I stopped caring about what things I should do or have to do.

The only thing I really have to do is die one day.

Everything else? I want to be able to decide whether that works for me or doesn’t work for me.

So I untethered from normal ways of eating, for example. I’m on a whole foods plant-based diet and I love it. It goes totally against what I grew up with, growing up in Germany, in Bavaria, where you eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of cow’s milk.

I untethered from the way people work. Said no to the 40 hour work week and being employed. I started doing my own thing, building my own online business, traveling the world, living and working in awesome places.

I generally untethered from the way that people live and the expectation that we need to have a family by the age of 30, kids and all that stuff. Even if that might still manifest itself into my life, I’m not going to do it because society tells me to do things.

I do it because I test things and see if it works for me. If it doesn’t – I reject it. If it does, then I’ll keep doing it. But I stopped trying to fulfill other people’s expectations or society’s expectations.

One big epiphany was to realize that I don’t have to do things the way other people do them. I can do things my way and that might not always be the way that other people like doing them, but it works for me. That’s what’s important. You should do the same.

 

4. I stopped caring about things and went minimalist about six years ago.

This completely changed my life. I stopped putting too much focus on owning shit, buying stuff, going shopping and having a huge closet full of things I never wear. I started collecting experiences. That’s where it’s at for me, that’s what really matters.

I embraced the minimalist lifestyle not just in terms of things but in many other areas of my life as well. It’s so liberating to stop caring about stuff.

 

5. I stopped caring about the media and the news.

I stopped reading and following the news about five or six years ago.

Actually, I used to be super addicted to reading the news every single day. And I thought I had to know about everything that was going on in every corner of the world until I realized: huh.

For one, I’m being influenced by whatever is going on in the news.

And second, there are a lot more things that actually are way more beneficial for me, such as reading awesome books and blogs or learning stuff on YouTube and other online courses. Now I consume content that actually enhances my life rather than takes away from it because the news is mostly negative. I don’t want to invite all these negative energies into my life.

It doesn’t mean that I’m naive or anything, but I’ll tell you one thing. A lot of very successful, happy, awesome people don’t read the news. It really lifts up the vibe and the energy in your life.

 

6. I stopped caring about shame.

Maybe you remember I did a 30 day challenge in January where I did a video every single day about vulnerability. It was called 30 Days of Vulnerability.

Essentially, this was so that I would get over my huge fear of making myself vulnerable and this huge shame that I had been carrying in my life for a very long time.

And it worked. Ever since I did those 30 days of vulnerability, I have let go and stopped caring about so many things in my life that I used to be ashamed of and it completely rocked my life.

 

7. I stopped caring about being a perfectionist.

Perfectionism is actually just a fear.

It’s wanting to be perfect. It’s fear of being imperfect and that other people would judge me.

I actually embrace not being perfect and I started making YouTube videos with my iPhone. When I look back at some blog posts that I did in the very beginning with my travel blog, Planet Backpack, like five years ago – they were horrible. They were totally not perfect but I did it anyway.

I’m about to learn something new that’s totally not perfect and I’m going to do that anyway.

Every single video that I put out there is not perfect, but I put it out anyway.

I believe when we care too much about being perfect, we’ll never put stuff out there. And I believe many people hold themselves back from creating, publishing, starting a YouTube challenge, starting a blog or whatever because they think other people might judge them because maybe it’s not perfect enough.

They’re waiting for the day that they have this perfect idea, this perfect epiphany, the perfect blog post, perfect branding, whatever, to then finally start. But actually? It’s just fear.

I recommend you to just screw perfectionism and do it anyway. Just do it. Start. Create. Press publish. Trust me, it’ll change your life.

 

8. I stopped caring about being single.

It used to be a big deal for me. When I was in this in between phase of not being with anyone, not having anyone on my radar, not being interested in anyone, and just being single.

The reason why this is such a big deal is because this is probably one of the first times in my life that I’m completely in my own energy.

I’m not worried about anything out there. There’s no drama in my life. No girl drama, which is awesome. I’m finally getting to a point where I’m extremely happy just being who I am and what I’m doing. Being single is actually pretty awesome, if you know how to enjoy it.

I have come to this point in my life and I trust that there will be this amazing, beautiful, inspiring, passionate woman waiting for me, my soul partner. I trust that and I know it’s going to happen.

In the meantime, I’m going to be a happy single and really take care of myself, create a lot of awesome stuff, and let you know that being single is fucking awesome.

 

9. I stopped caring about comparing myself.

I stopped caring about other people and what they do better.

Because, as a blogger, vlogger, someone who puts content out there, you check your likes and comments. You check what other people do and how many likes they have. How many subscribers and how many followers they have. That can drive you a little bit mad actually.

It can really turn into a bit of a problem because when you’re constantly comparing yourself, you’re not focusing on creation or what you’re doing.

You’re not focusing on the value that you want to provide, you’re just focusing on whether someone is else better than you. You’re constantly focusing on not being good enough and that can be so limiting.

I realize that I’m actually in my own way if I keep on comparing myself to other people.It doesn’t matter what other YouTubers are doing better or how many followers other what Instagrams have.

All I care about is creating a community. I care about creating and putting my best content out there. I’m caring about changing people’s lives, and if that’s to 10,000 or 50,000 or 1,000 or 100 people, it really doesn’t matter.

It’s about the impact that you can have on each individual person, not the numbers. It’s not about the amount of comments.

But it’s really something that I also had to embrace because, for example, with Planet Backpack, I grew a very big audience. Now with YouTube, it’s a slower growth than I had expected. I would worry about that.

What I realized is that it’s more important to focus on quality, the community, on every single person out there rather than checking the fucking views and the subscribers and the likes. That’s not why I’m here.

And this, my friends, is it for today. I hope you learned a little bit. Maybe you got inspired. Comment below if you have any questions, maybe things that you stopped caring about.