“At the time I should have liked to marry, my music was either hissed in the concert hall or received with icy coldness. Now for myself, I could bear that quite well, because I knew its worth, and that someday the tables would be turned. And when after such failures I entered my lonely room, I was not unhappy. But if in such moments I had to meet the anxious, questioning eyes of a wife with the words “Another failure…”, I could not have born that. For a woman may love an artist ever so much; still, she cannot possibly have that perfect certainty of the eventual victory which is in his heart. And if she had wanted to comfort me – a wife to pity her husband for his lack of success? I couldn’t stand to think what hell that would have been!” – Johannes Brahms

Reinforcement from others is nice, and everyone loves to receive it. But the most powerful, enduring, meaningful kind of reinforcement is the kind that comes from within, generated by absolute certainty in yourself. Self-acceptance generates a kind of confidence and contentment that no others’ appreciation could match.