Discomfort isn’t always a problem.

Another reason it’s challenging to detach from the need for approval is because it creates tension when people don’t approve of something you do. Big things or little things, people don’t like to feel tension. It hangs in the atmosphere like a thick, uncomfortable cloud. 

There’s an emotional desire to escape relational tension. Approval seems like a fast, easy, reliable way to avoid it. But your higher calling is not to alleviate tension. It’s to choose your standards and live them. Your responsibility is not to be approved of by anyone. It’s to think, act, and become the best version of you.

If you are on a path to a better you, learn to work through the tension it inevitably creates because it eventually fades.

Embrace the chase Do the work.