Hi SG,

I’m new to this forum so not sure how things run along here. I couldn’t help but reply.
I absolutely can understand your situation as I used to do that alot.

For me what helped was to understand that it was my FEAR that let me in to this thinking, from my experience I learnt that when people often asked me “why”
it isn’t because they doubted my decisions or are necessarily criticising. I grew up being bullied in school, then always criticised by friends and family which resulted in me finding myself in a similar situation as yours.

Moving on What I found annoying was that I would explain myself to people even if they didn’t criticized me. Often it was because people would genuinely be curious and interested.

What I find now is that I ask myself whether it is important to explain myself to everyone I meet and if i do I try to remind myself to keep the explanation very short, clear are precise. Gradually this changed to me just no longer finding myself in a position where I am explaining myself to people to convince them.

It’s a great feeling, always put yourself and your happiness and inner peace first. Everything else is just noise. Surround yourself with people that allow you to proser and grow and distance from anything that drains you. Explaining yourself to people in order to convince them of what you want for yourself is draining.

I hope this helps

x
S