Most of my inaction, indecisiveness and poor judgment comes from my fear of other people’s negative opinions of me.

I don’t ask for a raise because I’m afraid that my boss will reject me and think that I’m greedy.

I find myself dishonest about my intentions because I don’t want to give people the “wrong impression” and see me negatively.

I hold all my desires and my complaints in and as a result I’m the person who suffers from this behavior the most.

I later learned that many people fail in this area too.

Some people fail to get jobs because they are afraid of rejection and additional negative comments from friends and family members in the event of failure.

Ever heard the “nice guys finish last” in dating?

While I don’t commonly have these problem, it’s a manifestation of the same issue in other people.

I don’t think it’s your fault 100%.

We grew up, trained to seek approval of other people.

We’re trying to please our parents, God, teachers, employers, and other people we see as “higher” in society.

However, there is one opinion that we put so little value on.

That is our own opinion.

If you think about it, most of the people you look up to are the same as you.

If they are good at something, chances are they are bad at something at the beginning and made a lot of mistakes in the learning process.

If they are wise and make good judgment, then chances are they have made poor decisions themselves or have been exposed to people who made poor judgment.

There’s very little value in placing your opinion below others.

What you think is important. More so it’s even more important than others because it influences you and that counts for something.

That said the approval you should seek is from yourself.

Be specific about what you want.

Try to get that down on paper or your favorite notes app.

You can refine it later on but it’s important to remember to consider that you are just as worthy as the people you admire and your personal approval is just as valuable as theirs.

Don’t just seek other people’s approval.

Seek personal approval.

What you think of yourself is far more important than what other people think of you.

Given a choice between being called by others stupid and being called by yourself a coward, let others call you stupid.


Thank you for reading.

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