Shapes My Every Action

I have made my life dependent on what others think. It's always on my mind.  I'm sick of it. I just want to live my life without constantly being held back and second-guessing myself. Before I do or say anything, I always ask myself how I will appear to others first. To add to that, most of the time I think people are much more harsh in their opinions of me than in actuality. It prevents me from fully living, from being myself. I know that there will always be people who will disapprove, so I should just live my life and not care. I have pretty low self-esteem, and I guess part of the reason I care so much is that I'm not confident enough in myself and I don't see enough good in myself to be able to stand my ground and know that they are wrong when people think low of me. My opinion of myself is always lowered when I'm around negative, critical people. But I know that I just need to tell myself that it doesn't matter what anyone thinks because no one truly knows me; they don't have a right to judge me.