Introduction:
In a world where social validation often dictates actions, stepping back and reevaluating our motives is crucial. Doing things primarily to impress others can lead to a lack of fulfillment and authenticity. Here are five compelling reasons to start doing things because you can and for your own satisfaction rather than merely to gain external approval.
1. Authentic Self-Expression
You’re true to your interests and passions when you do things for yourself. This authenticity is not only liberating but also a key to genuine happiness. As Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Embracing this allows for a life lived more fully and sincerely.
2. Sustainable Motivation
Doing things to impress others often leads to fleeting motivation tied to external validation. When you do things for your own reasons, your motivation becomes intrinsic and sustainable. As psychologist Frederick Herzberg noted, internal motivators, like personal growth and achievement, often lead to more satisfaction than external rewards.
3. Enhanced Creativity and Innovation
When you’re not bound by the expectations of others, you free yourself to think more creatively and innovatively. This autonomy can lead to breakthroughs and discoveries that might never have emerged from a desire to conform or impress.
4. Better Mental Health and Well-being
Seeking constant approval can be mentally exhausting and detrimental to your well-being. When your actions are guided by personal conviction rather than external validation, you’ll likely experience less stress and greater overall mental health.
5. Building Self-Reliance and Confidence
Relying on external validation can erode self-confidence. Conversely, doing things because you can build self-reliance and confidence. It’s empowering to know that your actions are a result of your choices and not driven by the need to impress others.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, while seeking approval from others is natural, it’s more fulfilling and enriching to do things because you want to, not because you want to impress. This shift in perspective can lead to more authentic experiences, sustained motivation, and personal growth. Remember, your life is your own – make sure you’re living it on your terms.
Reflect on your recent actions and decisions. Are they for you, or are they for the impression of others?
Self love is not when you take care of yourself at the expense of others, we have to believe that we all have an immense impact on our surroundings and when we choose to take advantage of people so we can feel better about ourselves, the ripple effects extend beyond our imagination. Show yourself some love by accepting who you are, honestly you cannot change your person because God intended it that way, there is no other person like you in this whole world, think about this; in a world of over 7 billion people, no one else has your finger prints, now this is cranking, you are uniquely made and you have to come to this realization and love yourself more. The good thing about this thought process is that, it helps you to look at yourself and others as gifts to the world to bless it with the uniqueness’ that we possess. This brings me to my second point.
As highlighted above, we are all unique and hence have our unique selling point (USP) that is different from everyone else, what we need to do is to find this USP, develop it and then bless the world with it, with this kind of mindset, we compete with no one but ourselves and hence appreciate and love others as much as we love ourselves. No wonder Jesus said, love your neighbor as yourself, this is not too difficult to do when we realize that we are different, unique, and distinct but someway somehow we all came from the same creator. Have you ever sat down to think of the fact that out internal organs are exactly the same irrespective of color, size, and status etc. Accept, appreciate, and love yourself some more.
I will tie this point to the first, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, however most of us tend to be so critical to ourselves, we beat ourselves up for falling short, for not measuring up to standards set by others or even the ones set up by us. One thing we might not know is that we indirectly treat others the same way we treat ourselves. Do you have a very critical person in your life right now? watch their life closely, they are probably very critical of themselves, desiring perfection in everything when we know that we are not perfect and are only pursuing it. Show yourself some grace, I am not saying your should welcome mediocrity and pat yourself on the back when you make mistakes, what I am saying is that know that we are not perfect and whether we like it or not we will fall short at some point; therefore, be gracious to yourself and learn from those mistakes and move on with your life. This mode of operation (MOO) will help you extend grace to others when they offend you or fail you at some point.
This point ties in very well with point number three; truth is we judge ourselves because we want everything to be perfect and apparently lack grace. We go through our day judging ourselves because we are either not satisfied with our looks or pay too much attention to the things we cannot change, the sad thing about this is that we extend this to others unknowingly. We see someone walking or sitting in front of us and in a split second we make inaccurate judgement calls by subjecting them to our insecurities and imperfect standards, the result, we lose the opportunity to interact, make friends, influence, and inspire change in people’s lives. Resolve to abolish this mindset of judging yourself and others, accept and embrace yourself and others then you will experience the joy and peace that comes with loving yourself and others unconditionally.
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