Are You Being True to Yourself? Or Just Chasing Praise?...#47
True-self, Gut-feeling & Character.
Imagine this: You wrote what you thought was a great, personal article for your online community [like Substack]. You poured your heart into the stories and worked hard on the writing. But when you posted it...barely anyone noticed. Just a few likes and shares came in. That familiar feeling of disappointment and self-doubt kicks in.
We have all been there - wanting others to appreciate our creative work and real thoughts, only to have hardly anyone seem to care. In moments like these, we have a choice: Do we keep desperately chasing praise to feel better about ourselves? Or do we remember why we wrote in the first place - to express our authentic voices and experiences, no matter how others react?
Too often, we choose to chase praise instead of being true to ourselves. Addicted to the quick high of online compliments, we twist ourselves into fake versions designed only to get more likes, views, and fawning comments. But what does this cost us? Each ingenuine edit, each hit to our self-worth after a poor reaction, slowly chips away at the core of who we really are.
Can you vividly recall when you ignored your gut feeling about an important choice or relationship, just to avoid potential judgment? Like that bad vibe about your friend's shady business idea, but you ignored it because all your other friends fell for his pitch? How did that work out?
Our intuition exists for a reason - to guide our actions and protect us. To silence that wise inner voice in exchange for looking like we have it all together is dangerous. Each time we trade authenticity for approval, we damage our self-respect and ability to show up as our real selves.
We are taught growing up that the ultimate success is money earned, deals made, trophies won, and brands built. But is that really how you want to be remembered? As someone with a lot of fancy stuff but nothing real? Or as someone with unshakeable character and morals, even when it cost you an opportunity?
When our final days come, all those likes, follows, "you're awesome!" comments and empty praise will mean nothing to our soul. What we will crave most is the peace of being able to say, "I lived authentically. I made mistakes but stayed true to my values. I decided from my heart, not my ego."
Your character is your legacy. It is the one thing that can never be digitally faked or filtered. Don't let the pursuit of empty praise rot it away inside. Nurture it. Protect it. Hold it as sacred, no matter how much online adversity comes your way.
What would it take to free yourself from the shackles of approval-seeking? To create from a place of self-expression and inner truth, letting the likes and criticism fall wherever they may? Could you learn to celebrate the small wins - a meaningful comment from someone you touched, a personal breakthrough, or just staying true to yourself?
Because at the end of the day, upholding your real self and values? That's an achievement no number of likes can ever outshine.
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde
Writing for likes, saying yes when it's a no, cozying up to this person, courting flattery... We exaggerate how much others care about us, and thus fail to see the price of doing things to please them. Any benefits we gain will also be short-lived.
The serious despise one who'll suppress himself to please others. "Doesn't he have a mind of his own?" they'll ask. Those lavishing one with fake "you're awesome" will barely remember what they said in the evening.
We should be true to attract those who like who and what we are. A life of pretense is a hard one; it's an empty and hollow one. One who lives for praise knows that she has compromised herself.
All things are hard, but it's a double loss to work hard at fake things, for they cannot offer the satisfaction one so craved for in the long run.
Very beautiful post, thank you for your words and this beautiful reminder of staying true to ourselves in our art and life, in general!!