external validation
If you are insecure about a quality you have, the simplest solution is to get other people to speak well about you. Don’t feel smart? Just use big words and act cocky so people will look impressed with you.
Of course, this is fragile, people can often recognize what’s going on, and it’s not a long term solution to happiness.
Escaping the need for external validation requires a lot of work.
- Prove yourself, that way you don’t need external validation to feel confident in your abilities.
- Grow in other ways, that way you can seek out other sources of happiness and confidence.
- Accept that you don’t need to excel in the thing you are insecure about in order to be valid.
And honestly even with a lot of work I don’t know if it’s something that can really be escaped.
