10 Reasons You Constantly Seek Approval

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In this world where originality is almost missing, everyone at every stage tries extremely hard to seek approval constantly. There could be various reasons behind it. Sometimes, it becomes very important to impress people around you by seeking their approval. Believe it or not, we live in a world of exhibiting ourselves. Compliments make us happy, and we always want to be loved. Here are a few reasons why you constantly seek approval.

1. To gain popularity

Who doesn’t like popularity? One always tries to be known to various kinds of people. After all, it is always good to know that people already know about you. In order to do this, people try making everybody around them happy. They work on their charm, and very often, in order to gain popularity they make everyone around them feel wanted and loved. In other words, you want people to know that you consider their opinions, and hence, you always try hard to seek their approval.

2. To fish for compliments

Everyone loves being complimented. In order to do so, we often dress up to be liked by others. We behave in such a manner, which would be appreciated by others. Compliments give you instant happiness, and hence, you can go to any extent to fish for them, even if it means seeking approval from others. You are however, at a risk of losing your real self to this madness of approval.

3. To fit in social circles

One is always craving for company. There are certain social circles that seem more interesting than the others. People, in order to fit in those social circles, seek approval. They behave in a manner that the group expects them to. Sometimes, the approval we seek may be needed in order to achieve a goal or complete a task within a social circle. You need to realize, however, that you should be appreciated for who you really are.

4. To do well professionally

In a professional environment, you have to keep people around you happy. Doing things to seek people’s approval is very common in such a setup. Your growth in such places is dependent entirely on what others think of you. In such a situation, it doesn’t harm to seek approval, but it is highly important to notice such tendencies. You should always seek approval knowingly and not allow it to affect your personal life and relationships.

5. To become congenial

Who doesn’t like being appreciated by everyone around them? Not everyone is capable of doing this, and very few people are genuinely congenial with everyone. It essentially means to keep those around you happy and be friends with everyone. In some way, it means seeking everyone’s approval when congeniality doesn’t come naturally to you.

6. To make new friends

One of the best ways to make friends with people is to make them believe that you agree with them. This makes them comfortable. But there is a thin line between making someone feel comfortable and giving into them. You should be wary though if you seek approval just to make a new friend every time.

7. To enhance people’s skills

One has to constantly meet and deal with people in society. This is how life is structured, and it functions mostly around people. In order to smoothen this functioning, one has to live according to the norms. This may sound clichéd, but when you become a part of a certain community or society, you often sign an unspoken contract of a certain kind of conduct, in which it sometimes becomes mandatory to seek approval.

8. When you respect someone

When you look up to someone, you do things to impress that person. Often, to seek their attention, you do things that don’t come naturally to you. These are things that you do to always get some kind of approval from them. Their opinion really matters to you, as you respect them a lot.

9. When you don’t want to hurt people

Getting everyone’s approval becomes really important if you are a kind of person who does not like to hurt anyone. You feel that everyone’s opinion is important, and you have to make everyone happy. Disagreement will create a kind of conflict, and that is something you always avoid. Hence, when people care so much about not hurting anyone, they act in a manner which is approved by everyone around them.

10. To play safe

Some people avoid taking risks. They hardly trust their own ideas and have little respect for originality. They believe that everything that they ever come up with, has to be approved by others first. They always want to play it safe.

These are some of the many reasons why people constantly seek approval. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this. You need to introspect and realize to what extent you are willing to go to seek approval. You should form your own principles, and should live life to keep yourself happy first, and then think about doing extra things for others. This is essential for mental peace and stability in life.