You try your best in everything that you do. You have great friends. You get remarkable grades. You have a stable work. You have excellent talents and skills that not everybody can do.

You try, and you keep trying just to get the approval of your parents, but at the end of the day, it’s not good enough. You feel like you’re still not good enough.

Every time you achieve something, they just shrug it off, and they don’t even make you feel a little more special in that moment because, well, that’s what they’ve expected from you. But every time you fail at something, they go off about it. And the words hurt— especially coming from someone you love. And sometimes, it plants fear in your heart. They see more of the wrong things that you do than the right. There’s no reciprocity. What’s worse is if they try to compare you with your siblings, friends, relatives, or other people, you don’t even know.

“Why can’t you be like *insert name*? He/she is doing great at *insert job/school/talent/skill.*”

You try to meet their expectations, their demands, but it’s so high that it starts ruining you. Instead of being inspired, you lack self-confidence because you always put them down. Instead of feeling motivated, you feel heavy, and you start to doubt yourself and your goals.

You don’t know if you want to give up, or keep trying until you get the recognition you desire from them. However, the latter often comes off as attention-seeking, but who are you to blame? You want their love, and you want to make them proud.

But you've got to move on. Making your parents proud is an honorable thing. But you have to think of yourself, too.

Are you trying hard because you want to succeed in life and want to do well for yourself, or are you giving your best efforts in hope of the approval by someone else?

Live for others, but don’t forget to live for yourself. Ultimately, this is about you. It’s not selfish to do things your way for yourself sometimes. You cannot give what you don’t have.

Keep trying, and never surrender. You can never please everybody. Others aren’t always going to recognize you for your talents or efforts, and that is okay. You have to make a healthy environment for yourself in order for you to grow. Surround yourself with people who will encourage AND criticize you, who will celebrate your accomplishments with you AND comfort and challenge you when you fail. This is not always the case, but a person does more when he or she is appreciated or even loved.

You are appreciated. You've just got to find those people who appreciate you for who you are.

At the end, you also have to trust that your parents mean well. They, too, are trying their best to become good parents for you. They are humans, and they are your parents. You share the same blood. Keep loving them! Keep making them proud— but not to the extent that it becomes unhealthy and it starts to destroy you.

Your worth is not validated by the opinion of others — not even your parents. You are already worth it in the first place.

Be proud of yourself. You are trying. That’s what matters.