Self-assurance makes people complacent. We need doubt to keep moving forward. If others respond to us in a way that confirms our self-image, then the world is as it should be. Isn’t it?
We can’t see ourselves, so we look to others’ reactions to understand how we feel, to know who we might be. We make them our mirrors. But mirrors don’t reflect the truest of truths. That isn’t what most of us are after, anyway. We want comforting half-truths, and balms to sooth the rough parts of our souls.
We want to be the two thirds best we can.
A Bunch of Dumb Words in a Row 