The only approval you can be sure of

“Don’t value someone else’s opinion of you more than you value your own opinion of yourself.”

I heard this statement on a podcast I was listening to the other day, and it stirred all kinds of feelings in me. It sparked memories of times that I changed myself because I valued someone else’s opinion of me more than I cared about my opinion of myself.

Have you ever done that?

Have you ever stopped yourself from doing something you really wanted to do because someone else told you it was stupid or weird, or that they wouldn’t do it?

We’re trained when we are young children to look outside ourselves for validation and our worth. We are taught to fit in and be like everyone else, so we’re liked. Do what everyone else is doing so we can be popular.

As we get older, the chase becomes more intense, we become more desperate and can’t do enough to gain other’s approval. That chase can lead to addictions, debt, and many other self-sabotaging behaviors.

What if, the whole time what we needed was our own approval? That’s the only approval that we can control and be sure of.

What if, we spend our whole life chasing things that we already have hidden inside us? All we have to do is remember who we are and how worthy we are.

What if, it’s not the things we acquire that we long for, but the feeling we get from them that we desire? And we can feel any way we choose; that power is inside us also.

What if we stop chasing and sit still, no matter how uncomfortable it is, and feel those feelings?

What if we learn to accept ourselves so we don’t need to chase other’s acceptance?

Be the person you’re waiting for to love and accept you.

When we change the world changes.