Validation that lasts

Photo by Daniel Salcius on Unsplash

We want the thing.

We finally get the thing. 

We feel good about the thing.

Maybe we even get compliments from people around us on the thing.

But eventually, the high fades.

We normalize having the thing – whatever the thing might be.

Rinse and repeat, right?

Getting things we want feels good but lacks staying power.

That’s the problem with looking externally for something that’s only found inside of us.

Lasting validation comes from the actions we take to help ourselves and the people we care about, not the things we acquire along the way.

There’s nothing wrong with acquiring things. A baseline level of things goes a long way in helping us feel safe and secure in an uncertain world.

Just remember that lasting validation isn’t waiting for us on the other side of the next thing.

Instead, let’s focus on the actions we can take to help ourselves and our friends, family, neighbors, and communities around us.

A healthy by-product of those actions is likely to be the validation we seek.