Love this and thank you for descriptions. I would never have thought I would be getting a much needed lesson on the internal shifting of my inner-world here on Reddit. :D

Awesome! Thanks for the reply. I didn’t see it until now! I feel like being the middle ground, at least for myself, is a better place to hang out. So I look forward to getting back into that down the road once I go through whatever internal transformation taking place right now! This past year or so, I’ve worried about myself as if I’ve completely lost my mind and gone madder than the Mad Hatter in Alice and Wonderland! Haha, lol. Maybe not that mad! But, it’s because I am now needing internal validation, as another commenter pointed out the difference between external and internal. I need to feel good about myself! Not just based on how I feel because you think I’m awesome. I want to feel awesome because I am awesome! Haha. Hopefully that makes sense. This is a great conversation.

From one POV, as we mature, we lose that “need” to be validated for how we “appear” to others and gain the need to be validated for “who we REALLY are” and be respected for the wisdom gained through adversity and life experiences. I know for me I was greatly motivated in my 20’s-mid30’s by appearing as if I have my shit together. Life stuff burst that bubble of facade. I now don’t give two licks of lollipop what you may think of me. It’s as if I’ve swung from one extreme yo the other on the spectrum of people pleasing. Perhaps, being burned one too many times makes me stay out of the playground of bullshit. Hoping I will swing into a pleasant middle ground so I can appear to have my shit together even when I don’t feel it.