"Prove yourself to yourself, not others."

There’s a lot to unpack here with self-love and self-acceptance. I personally have struggled with this topic. Growing up as a kid I was in a very validating environment. For many years I misunderstood who or what I should be working for. Basically, I became dependent on the praise and approval of others in order to measure my own self-worth. It’s hard to see when you’re in it, and that’s why I think this quote is so good because it helps provide some awareness to it.

"Prove yourself to yourself, not others."

Even in the expression “I’m trying to prove myself”... Who are you trying to prove yourself to? If you don’t think highly about yourself then you’ll rely on others to make up the difference. But the problem is it becomes an endless chase of more and more to constantly fill the need of feeling like you’re worthy.

So when you’re caught up in this cycle, of valuing others’ opinions over your own, what do you do? You challenge yourself. You step straight into the fear. The fear that you aren’t enough, that you aren’t worthy, and you show yourself that you are capable. It could be as small as just showing up for yourself at an event, or as big as radically changing something about your life. In order to prove yourself to yourself you need to do something for yourself.