#33- What will people think? Try Asking This Instead

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The Inner Space Podcast: Episode 33

Introduction: What Will People Think?…Try Asking This Instead

What will people think?

That question runs through most of us when we’re moving toward something different from what we see around us — or when we’re going through an identity shift, revealing a side of ourselves that others haven’t seen, and we’re afraid to show it.

In this episode, I tell the story of a recent Barcelona brand photo shoot, an electric blue dress that stretched me right to my edges, and the two questions that carried me from fear of judgment all the way to real freedom.

Mentioned in the episode:

– Join the Alive Creator Mastermind HERE

– Farah Asif Brand Shoot HERE

What Will People Think? The Question That Keeps Us Small

I’ve met this question at every major turning point of my life.

The first time was coming back to work after my burnout, wondering how to explain what I’d been through.

It showed up again when I launched my coaching business and started sharing my voice, my photos, my messages online.

And it showed up again when I began talking publicly about my healing art, the drawings I create that shift people’s inner state.

Every time I’ve moved toward something aligned, “what will people think” has tried to hold me back first.

The Dress That Made Me Stretch

The most recent version of this story happened while preparing for a brand photo shoot in Barcelona with photographer Farah Asif.

She guided the whole creative direction, the color (electric blue, already my brand color), the style, and the energy.

I found a dress in exactly the right color. It was also very edgy, almost transparent. I sent it to Farah without expecting a yes. It became a week-long back-and-forth between four dress options.

Option four was the safe one: I could have bought it immediately and worn it again.

Instead, I sat with the edgy dress and the discomfort it brought up. I wasn’t procrastinating out of doubt… I was feeling into how much further this could stretch me.

From “What Will People Think” to “Who Cares”

That’s when the shift happened. I asked myself a different question: who cares?

Most people are centred on their own lives, their challenges, their families, and their own desires. If I share something bold, I might live in someone’s mind for a minute.

I don’t believe I will stay there forever.

There’s a second piece I share often with my clients:

– Do I want to restrict my experience of life based on what people might think or say?
– This is my life, I refuse to reach the end of it wondering what I didn’t do because I was afraid of an opinion that was never going to last anyway
– When you move toward something a little uncomfortable, you give other people permission to do the same

From “Who Cares?” to “How Free Can I Be?”

“Who cares” was already a shift. But I went one step further and asked: how free can I be?

That question is what actually carried me through the photo shoot. I let go of “what will people think?” and even of “Who cares?” I just stayed in the feeling I wanted to transmit and the experience I wanted to create.

It’s also a question I bring into Alive Creator, my seven-month mastermind for creators who want to build what they truly desire while enjoying the process as much as the result.

Where Do You Feel Freedom in Your Body?

Freedom isn’t only a mental decision; it’s a sensation.

A few questions to feel into it:

– Have you ever swum in the ocean completely naked?
– Have you ever walked barefoot in the grass or somewhere everyone else wears shoes?
– Have you ever had full ownership of your own time—choosing a surf session, a swim, or your children over a meeting everyone else had to attend?

Notice how free each of those moments felt.

That sensation is the compass.

Questions for Your Own Reflection

1) Where in your life is “what will people think” currently holding you back?

2) If you moved from that question to “who cares,” what would you do differently this week?

3) How free can you actually be in your work, your relationships, your body, your time?

4) What emotion (guilt, shame, fear) tends to show up when you allow yourself to be free, and what would be there instead?

5) Where are you giving your time to something that satisfies you 20% instead of 80%?

6) What project, right now, is waiting for you to stop asking what people will think?

Ready to Create From Your Freest Self?

As I told a client recently, when we finally released the guilt she carried around, allowing herself to be free, she didn’t know what to feel; freedom had become unfamiliar.

We found new drivers together: curiosity, desire, and passion. That’s the compass.

If you recognise yourself in this and you’re ready to build what you truly desire, while having as much fun in the process as in the result, Alive Creator, my seven-month mastermind for creators, might be exactly what you’re looking for.

The next time “what will people think” shows up, you’ll know the two questions that carry you through it: Who cares? And how free can I let myself be? I’d love to know.