Praise. We all seek it in one way or another – whether we notice it or not, but do we actually need it? This has been on my mind a lot lately. I started to see it in different outlets of my life. It started with social media. I would log on and see everyone I follow post these highlights of their lives or whatever it was and just be like, “Look at me, look at what I’m doing”. This in turn made me feel like my life wasn’t as exciting because no one knew what I was doing. Then I remembered a post I saw months prior. It said, “It’s more about how your life feels than how it looks”. I had to look at myself in the mirror and question who I was trying to impress. Why did I need praise for living my life to feel that I was doing it right?
This question dawned on me so much that it felt as though God was giving me a sign. So I quit social media altogether and was shocked at how much it made me stop looking for praise. It gave me a lot of time to question what else I was seeking praise for in my life. I noticed I was buying clothes, shoes, or appliances to alert everyone, “Look at me, look at me, I need your praise now for doing this.” It felt like I needed them to know I was doing these things to feel seen, noticed, and ultimately valued. I was seeking everything for everyone else and not myself, and certainly, not for God. Sadly, it wasn’t just these outlets of my life I was seeking praise in, it was in working out for the wrong reasons or doing good deeds, having to alert others to what good I did for them to deem me a good person. The moment I stopped seeking praise is the moment I realized what I was doing for myself and that ultimately, what I was doing for others was to receive this invisible ribbon of praise. I think what I’ve learned over these last few weeks of no social media and looking myself in the mirror each day is social media is a fantasy land of facades. Don’t get lost in it trying to get praise, especially when it’s much more satisfying to give praise to yourself. Don’t work out just to hear others tell you that you look good. Do it because you want to. Don’t do good deeds with the feeling that you need to alert everyone so that they can validate to you that you’re a nice person.
It’s like Matthew 6:1 says (NLT), “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.” I feel this whole chapter echoes what my piece is trying to say. Don’t do anything seeking praise from others because that will always be the wrong reason for doing anything in your life. But, rather do it because you want to or because it’s the right thing to do – whatever that thing is.
At the end of this journey that we call life, there’s no one we should have impressed more than God and/or ourselves because, in this life, that’s ultimately all we have.
