Are You a Status Seeker?
Okay, admit it, you’re one. C’mon admit it. You choose to hang out with so-called people of status, you choose you’re relationships according to it, and above all, the higher the status of someone or something, the more you swoon before them or it.
Well, maybe not. But for millions upon millions, status is more important than honesty, trust and integrity. This is not to say that people of status can’t be honest, trusting and of sound character, but it does mean that many forego the latter, so that they can embrace the former. How else can we explain the mass love and praise of unsavory characters, both dead and alive?
It’s a strange phenomenon, but people yearn to be near or associate with people and things of status. It’s as if their entire self-worth is dependent upon someone perceived to be high in the pecking order of things. It’s as if self-validation can be achieved through someone or something else. Rather than self-worth being intrinsic (as it should be), it’s extrinsic, which can lead to a dangerous state of being.
Deep-seated insecurity lies at the core of the status seeker. Unsure in their own boots, they push outwards to secure their rightful belonging. Whether it’s befriending for gain, marrying for money, or jockeying for position, the status seeker is on a perpetual journey of self-validation. They hunger for recognition and starve for the attention that comes with being “attached” to people and things of status.
But here’s the oddity: the more they strive for it, the more their insecurity troubles. As with the truth (see Truth: Recognize It Lest We Be Damned…), insecurity finds its way to the top. It may not happen immediately, but so long as one’s identity is tied to externals, insecurity will imminently raise its ugly face to the body and mind it inhabits.
If we are to avoid this cat- and-mouse game of “hiding” from ourselves, then it’s incumbent to be true to ourselves. It’s incumbent to recognize why we do, what we do. Do we harbor sincere intentions with those we encounter, or is our sole intention to boost our ego through associating with people of status?
The irony is that those who seek status often neglect to find it, while those who don’t, do. It’s the phony that seeks status for its sake, while the genuine one doesn’t seek it, but lives it. And the only status worth living is derived from being a person of honesty, trust and integrity. Or as an old Yiddish word implies: live to be a mensch…
For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and a Nominee for the Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2016 Global Ebook Awards.
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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
A 2015 & 2016 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook