Stop saying you don't care. Because you do care. You're just saying you don't so you don't ever have to try. But that's for wimps:

• People who don't have money who say they don't care about money

• People who have never traveled outside the country and say they don't care about travel

• People who are out of shape and say they don't care about what others think

It's all a self-defense mechanism, and it makes sense. If you never step into the ring you never have to risk getting knocked out. But you also never give yourself the chance to make some real progress in your life.

I'm not saying you necessarily have to care about any of the examples I've listed above. I just want to make sure you're not lying to yourself and putting yourself in a worse scenario than you need to be.

I say this because I've been there. I said I didn't care about money. Then I didn't have any money. I said I didn't care about love. Then I was lonely and depressed. I said I didn't care about what others think, and then I just had no friends. It was all a self-defense mechanism.

I did care. I cared deeply. I always have. I just didn't know a better way of expressing myself aside from shutting myself out from the world and putting up a front, only to realize I was shutting myself out from my own world.

But since I've taken responsibility for myself, my actions, and my life, I've stepped into the ring. I've faced rejection again and again. I write these blog posts. I share my work. I approach magazines and publishers and get ignored constantly. People cancel on me all the time, but I keep going because I care.

I care about financial stability. I care about my health. I care about my work and expressing myself. That involves getting knocked out 9 times out of 10 and somehow summing up the courage to get right back up again.

I keep going.

I keep getting back into the ring because I care.

Maybe sometimes a little too much.

by Jason Lam