Us human beings, we are highly social creatures. We have evolved to seek social acceptance. Given how painful rejection is and how essential acceptance and belongingness feel to our very survival, we learn to do whatever we must in order to fit in and be accepted. We try to mold ourselves into whatever we think will lead to others accepting us. We make our self-worth contingent upon various criteria like our looks, our jobs, how much money we have etc.. We struggle to understand what our worth is outside of these criteria. A stable and healthy sense of Self-worth is that recognition that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s not the academics, or job or money or looks. Its that recognition that ‘I am greater than all of those things.’ It is a deep knowing that I am of value, that I am loveable, necessary to this life, and of incomprehensible worth.