Reclaiming Your Power: The Journey from External Approval to Authentic Self-Discovery

When we think about the path of self-discovery and personal growth, we often remember times when we felt lost, unsure, and looking for direction. We might look to our friends, family, and society as a whole to help us figure out what to do and how to live our lives during these times. This method may seem less scary and more comfortable than facing our inner turmoil head-on, but it often leads us to give up our personal power and liberty in the hopes of finding an easier way to solve our spiritual problems.

It's easy to see why people want to hand over their life choices to the people around them. After all, it can be hard and painful to make decisions that are in line with our inner wants and needs. You have to look inside yourself, be ready to face painful facts about yourself, and have the guts to act on what you find, even if it goes against what other people want or what society expects of you. It can be hard to deal with the fear of making the wrong choice, failing, and not knowing what will happen. To try to calm down, asking friends and other people in society for help can seem like a safe bet. They give you ready-made answers, rules, and beliefs that make you feel like you fit and are accepted, which takes away the instant discomfort of thinking about yourself and making choices.

But the relief we get from meeting other people's standards doesn't last long and can actually make us feel more unhappy and disconnected from our true selves. When we let other people decide what to do with our lives, we're basically living by someone else's rules, not our own. According to social norms, this can make for a life that looks successful or satisfying on the outside but is actually empty and unfulfilling on the inside. Realizing that we have given up control over our lives can make us feel guilty, angry, and like we wasted time living someone else's idea of happiness.

It's not easy to get back to having personal power and independence, but it is very satisfying when we do. It starts with realizing that the answers we're looking for are often inside of us, not outside of us. To do this, we need to make time to think about ourselves, do things that help us connect with our deepest thoughts and feelings, and learn how to listen to our instincts and inner direction. Some of the things that can help us connect with ourselves are writing in a book, going to therapy, and spending time in nature.

As we learn to listen to our inner voice, we may find that what we really need and want is very different from what other people or society has taught us to value. It can be hard to accept these findings, especially if they go against what other people expect or if you're afraid of being judged and rejected. But it's when we accept ourselves as we really are that we regain our power and start living a life that is truly our own.

This road of self-discovery and independence doesn't mean we should ignore all of our friends' and society's advice and points of view. After all, people are social by nature, and other people's knowledge and experiences can help you make decisions. But the important thing is to see these outside influences as parts of a bigger picture, not as the main plan for our lives. We need to learn how to compare them to our inner knowledge and make choices that are in line with our values, goals, and health.

Looking to friends and society for direction can give us short-term comfort and a sense of direction, but in the long run, it takes away our personal power and makes us forget who we really are. The path to restoring our freedom and living a life that is in line with our deepest wishes is hard and takes guts, but it is also the only way to find real happiness and satisfaction. We can get through the hard parts of life with a sense of purpose and authenticity if we look inside and learn to trust ourselves. This will help us create a life that is not only fulfilling but also a true picture of who we are.