Admiration.

Think of admiration and recognition as a kind of manipulation.

Not by any individual out of malicious intent, but by the invisible force of peer pressure, the price to pay for living among fellow social animals.

Admiration distracts me from following my own voice, the only thing that really matters.

To be loved out of admiration means the love is earned. And that is detrimental. Because quite the opposite, love comes before achievements and impressiveness, out of the depth of connections. That’s the whole point. Having to earn your love might work in the moment, but in the long term could only make you feel even less loved. More worthless. For you have to earn your keep, again and again and again.

So what’s the other option?

To be wary of admiration like the social manipulator that it is. To make the conscious choice of giving up on people who want to be admired. Not because they inherently make bad decisions, but that they have chosen a different path than mine. To remind myself:

I don’t want to be admired.

I want to be accepted. For the imperfect being that I am, just the way I am.