For or Against ourselves

A thought popped into my mind the other day. Why are we so eager to not disappoint the others? Why do we care about what they think about us? Let’s get this straight: I am not implying we shouldn’t care about what others think. I just wonder why we are so eager to do things that keep feeding our ego and the image we present to the world.

Many of us think of not losing face in front of others, but I want to know why we never think of not losing face in front of our own selves.

We demand of ourselves to be to the standards that the others impose. We strive to lift up to their expectations, be it work, parents, friends or even strangers (“What would they think if I didn’t do this or that?!”). But why is it that we cannot bring ourselves to these standards for our own benefit? Why is it that we don’t do everything in our power to not disappoint ourselves? By not taking ourselves into consideration we work against ourselves.

Here’s where unhappiness lies: striving to meet the others’ expectations, demands and standards while not setting any for ourselves. If we would have demands of ourselves and keep ourselves true to them, we would become so much better each day passes. This is how we can work for ourselves.