Whether actively or passively we continually seek validation from others. Isn’t it time to trust ourselves?

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” yet we let others’ opinions of us dictate our worth all of the time, often without even realizing it. Recently two brave souls conducted a social experiment of sorts when they chose to acknowledge strangers’ advances a bit differently than those wannabe Casanova’s expected.

Last week Clair Boniface, college student and amateur social scientist, got curious about the messages she usually ignores. Once approached by men with the typical opener, “you’re hot/beautiful/amazing,” she replied simply, “Yes, I am.” Her would-be suitors did more than back-peddle, they got mean with their responses and quickly told her she wasn’t all that.

Boniface believes their response has “a lot to do with how some men believe that they have the power to tell women what they are, without considering that women have already acknowledged this themselves.” An astute observation, no doubt, and it made me explore a more subversive element…how and why we seek approval and ways we can validate ourselves.

The motivation seems clear, a stranger … (read the full article at YourTango.com where it was originally published.)