The only real medals are the ones we give ourselves

There's so much people do in their lives strictly for acknowledgement from others - to receive some attention, some notice, some adulation, praise ...

I was this way too -- spending most of my life distracted by the 'illusion' that we are what others think we are. And when we are so distracted, we dress, act, eat, behave in ways that conform to the liking of those whose acceptance we want. This goes so far that it eventually effects even our thought process. We start thinking like those whose approval we seek. We hanker after 'medals' we perceive others can give us -- in fact we become so invested in these medals we want from others that we become the complete opposite of the 'authentic person' I've written a lot about in different posts in this blog.

While its okay to reasonably conform to the expectations of the society one is a part of, but to live in a way geared only to win approval needs to be re-evaluated. How about instead, make a list of what you could be that would make you feel real good about yourself - things that were just for you, not for the world, in fact if you couldn't ever brag about them to others for their praise, you would still be pleased about this achievement, for yourself. These, then, are medals we give ourselves. To be, to do, to have what is meaningful to us, because of how we feel as a result ... is the key, and not praise given to us by others.

Deep inner confidence comes from the satisfaction of first having clarity about who and what we want to be, and then becoming that. We will find then, that there's nothing left to prove to anyone -- the incredible lightness of being one experiences at this level is worth any effort one has to make, to do what needs to be done.

Kiki ;-)
P.S. My request to those who 'borrow' from this blog is to please give adequate credit to the source of the borrowed information - whether me, or books and people I quote from. Thank you.