Popularity Contest

It would seem that despite our best efforts to leave the insecurities and bids for popularity behind us in the corridors of high school, we never quite out grow the need for approval. I like to consider myself an independent minded person, but I am fully aware that I am a seeker of affirmation. I like to be liked, even by people I don't like.

But there are those of you who give off the impression that you are who you are and you don't care who thinks what. You know who you are. I like to think of myself in those terms occasionally, but if I manage to fool others, I rarely fool myself.

My husband is one of those people who can do anything, or at least he will tell you he can and then figure it out. He doesn't generally let other's opinions effect him over much and his confidence is certainly not lacking. So it made what happened today particularly amusing and revealing.

For work today Rob was scheduled to speak via conference call three different times. At least a thousand people of the North West were invited to join. He was all set up for the conference call and waiting on the line when the operator came on and informed him that no one had joined the call. He was shocked and dismayed. Then even more so when the experience was repeated for his second call. Luckily the third was well attended, but for a short while there it was clear that, despite all logic, part of him took it just a little bit personally. I think at one point he might have even said, "No one wants to listen to me." with shock and awe and little hurt in his voice.

It made me realize how often we seek the approval of others. I seek approval from my husband, my friends, even strangers who read this blog. Maybe not always approval, but acceptance, and encouragement. So, I was just wondering, do you feel the need for approval from others, and if you are willing to admit it, who do you seek it from the most? Your boss? Your parents? Your children? I find that in some way this show of approval and acceptance seems to validate us in our own eyes. Perhaps we are too worried about what we can do, and not who we are. I know I sometimes am.