“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” -Lao Tzu
Approval: Emotional or social validation received from others.
Approval Dependence: A pattern where one’s worth, choices, and identity hinge on external validation.
Self Worth: A person’s belief about themselves, and their deservingness for respect, love, and good – precisely because of their intrinsic humanity, not just because of achievements, approval, productivity, or performance.
Worthlessness: A deep belief that one’s existence has little or no value.
Intrinsic Value: The inherent natural worth one possesses. Simply by being you, it is your independent value. It is the value of you independent of external factors.
Authentic Self: Without distortion, the expression of one's values, desires, thoughts and actions.
Unhealthy reliance on approval influences both behavior and choice, thus increasing the probability of a lesser outcome. Any decision made only for acceptance rather than alignment, shifts one’s life trajectory.
Small Compromises become Large Compromises, and slowly the path of life bends, rewriting the individual’s destiny.
Approval dependence is a trap, reframing possibilities so convincingly, even as it erodes the life that was meant to be lived, a dream unfulfilled.
Approval Dependency - The Trap
Chronic Overthinking
Compromises Spontaneity, Creativity, and Confidence while displacing trust in one’s Inner Voice.
Saying Yes When You Really Want to Say No
Creating Resentment and Diminished Boundaries simultaneously wreaking havoc on the Nervous System.
Taking Responsibility for the Emotions of Others
These are the Emotional Train Wrecks. This Trap results in emotional enmeshment and one’s own self-abandonment.
Avoiding Conflict at All Costs
When truths go unspoken, relationships become fragile, for they are built on performance rather than honesty.
The Shifting of Beliefs (BASED UPON AUDIENCE)
Identity is diluted over time. What is safe to say, displaces personal and authentic opinion.
Feeling Uncertain Without Praise
The Nervous System becomes wired to seek validation as a reward, degrading one’s self-worth simultaneously resulting in Emotional Dependency.
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.”-Richard Feynman
Responses