Most of us are not really living because we care too much of what others think of us. We always want to please them. We always try to explain what we are doing. In the end, we live as who they want, not who we are supposed to be.
Growing up, many of us did not get to choose what we wanted to be. We had to follow what our parents or families wished us to be. We had to give up dreams, just to satisfy them in order to cause fewer problems for ourselves. We had given up the rights to make decisions for ourselves once, why must we do it again?
Consulting others’ opinions and consulting others to receive approvals are different from each other.
We consult someone’s opinion after making a decision. We have already decided to take the risk. We will take the action even if the feedback is not favourable.
Asking for approval means we are ready to listen to the answers and have not decided yet. If the answers are unfavourable, we will not do anything. This also means we allow others to have a say in our lives. The sense to please others is so great here that we eventually feel paralyze by all the comment others made. We cannot afford to make another step forward and this is a disappointment.
When we have a disappointment, we tend to hide behind a mask. There will be more and more disapointments and then, our masks keep changing. All our entire lives, we have hundred if not thousands of masks. We hide all our feelings behind them, even joys!
When we finally can do something for oour very own, we found that we have lost the courage .... and all those masks cannot help us anymore!
Most of us are not really living because we care too much of what others think of us. We always want to please them. We always try to explain what we are doing. In the end, we live as who they want, not who we are supposed to be. 
