Oh Lynn. I know this feeling so well. People like you and me are constantly hoping for recognition, and we imagine it in one form, and then, if it comes at all, it is not what we thought other people received for similar achievements. Then, if really disappointed, we’re in a bind, because we can’t ask for what we want because then it wouldn’t be a real gesture of support.
I actually have no advice about this. Just commiseration. Maybe the grass is always greener, or maybe we just aren’t as good or as well liked as other people we compare ourselves to. On fluther people often say we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others (even I have been known to give this advice), but easier said than done, especially if you are the kind of person who measures their worth by the approval of others, Perhaps you, like me, never got any as a child, and have been constantly hungering for it since then,
I think we’re supposed to figure out how to be happy doing what we do, and doing it for its own sake, not because we want approval. Nice idea. Hard to execute. Part of me wonders if it’s really true or if people just say that to try to make themselves feel better, We’re social animals. How can we live without approval from our community? From the people we care about most?
l hate to say it, but perhaps there’s nothing for it but to work harder. Some day maybe we’ll do something that people appreciate spontaneously. Appreciate in amounts that we can actually believe it and actually take it in. Or, maybe some day we really will come to realize we’ve enjoyed the hell out of the journey no matter what people noticed or didn’t notice.