Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make upon you, for their censures are not in your power, and consequently should not be any part of your concern.

Other people’s opinions of you are formed inside their heads, out of their moods and their history, and no amount of your effort reaches in there to correct them. Since you cannot control the verdict, treating it as your responsibility gives you a job you can never finish. That is why worrying about it feels endless. The work in front of you is finishable, and it is the only part you were ever holding.

When you catch yourself rehearsing what someone might think, ask what you would be doing right now if their opinion were already settled either way. Then do that, and let their view of it be theirs.