There is a time and a place for caring. You should care about the millions of homeless people in your city; whether the person in your class who never talks to anyone is actually okay; and even what you’re going to be doing with your life for the next 10 years. However, there is also an endless list of things that just aren’t worth your while.

You shouldn’t care…

1. About your fringe looking good when it rains. It will not look good, that’s just a fact, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. Even if you wear a hood or hold an umbrella, the humidity will attack.

2. That you haven’t bought any Christmas presents and you only have 9 days to do so. Online shopping will always welcome you with a friendly smile and 3 day delivery guarantee.

3. About the annoying people who say they’re not feminist. They’re a complete waste of your believer-in-equality energy.

4. About how much sugar there is in cereal. No-one is telling me that my flavourless Aldi rice crispies* have like 30 teaspoons of sugar per gram. So you eat your cereal and you enjoy it, without worrying that you should have had rye bread or porridge or something else that you can actually feel being digested.

*Yes, I know they’re ‘Crisp Rice’ but who actually ever says that out loud?

5. That you haven’t heard back from any universities yet. If they want you, they’re just biding their time and if they don’t, well maybe this is a great opportunity to do something amazing in your gap year. You could even be completely controversial and go to Thailand.

6. About people who don’t make any effort to be nice. It seriously confuses me when I meet someone who is completely and utterly oblivious to the (pretty easy) rules of social nice-ness. I mean, get a grip, being rude is just out of fashion now.

7. About the actual lives of the people in reality programmes (eg. Made in Chelsea). They’re literally just people who happen to look nice and have enough money to stay looking nice all the time.

8. About the aesthetic of your Instagram account. When it comes down to it, it’s just loads of photos with dodgy filters.

9. About drinking too much mulled wine at Christmas parties. Amirite????

10. That you’re totally under-dressed at all these Christmas parties. Jeans and trainers are easier to dance in than a dress and heels. Especially when drunk on mulled wine.

Of course, it’s never that easy. Sometimes you just can’t help but put that ‘Meninist’ person in their place (over tumblr); cry over your sugary cornflakes; despair over UCAS; spend hours editing photos on Instagram so your ‘feed’ looks fresh; and shovel glitter onto your face in an attempt to look like you’ve made an effort.

Sometimes, all you can do is care. And waste your emotions. But a good skill is knowing when you’re doing this, so you can try and care less in the future.