Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. As a new member of the medium community this means the world to me. As a humanist, I truly believe that those that are unable to see you are also unable to love you and don’t deserve the privilege of being too close to you. I agree, an over-reliance on external validation can be a Limiting crutch that can inhibit our development of intrinsic motivation. Balance within thyself ensures that all interactions outside of ourselves are just bonus feedback. We do love underdogs! Perhaps our human tendency to co-regulate helps draw our extra love from us in those we see are in lack. I’m learning a lot about that right now and now understand human beings as perpetually healing machines that can biochemically and emotionally elevate and regulate one another. Cheers to THAT! How beautiful right? I live for community. That’s all this article is about, over-self-reliance is as much of a detriment to us than over-reliance on others is. That happy middle is an interesting place to try to find. May we all know it well.