The Advice That Comes Too Late
The phrase almost always arrives at the wrong moment.
Someone is standing at the edge of something that matters to them. A first visit to a nude beach. A conversation they have postponed for years. A decision that will make them visible in a way that cannot be taken back once it is made. Their body knows this before their mind does. The shoulders rise slightly. The jaw tightens. The breath becomes shallow without announcing itself. Nothing dramatic, nothing obvious. Just enough to signal readiness for impact.
And then, often with genuine kindness, someone says it.
“Don’t care what people think.”
It is meant as encouragement, a way to cut through hesitation, a reminder that freedom is available if only you would reach for it. But in that moment, it lands with a dull thud. Not because it is wrong in principle, but because it speaks to the wrong part of the person receiving it. It is advice delivered to the mind while the body is already bracing.
