Achievement

The other day I finished writing an assignment for my Negotiation unit.

I had to write about a weakness I could isolate from my negotiation skills/performance.
I found that my particular weakness was that I was all too eager to give in to what the other party wants in order to retain an amiable relationship with that other party.

"Winner takes all. Oh who am I kidding, you can have it all. I just like holding your hand"

It makes me reflect on how this desire to be liked by those around you - even strangers who's opinions should matter for naught, is an interesting factor in the outcome of our personalities.
Though I considered this to be a weakness, in essence, everyone shares this attribute.
It is our psychological, and I daresay physiological need to belong (Maslow, anyone?) - to connect with other people and to feel like a part of a collective.

As much as someone desires to be an "individual" and assert that they are 'different to everyone else'; at the core of this assurance is the longing to be adored and by setting themselves apart from the horde, ironically, connect with the collective.

"Screw you guys, I'm a DRAGON!!" "but dude, you're just an egg like the rest of us"

My man Eric Hoffer says it best:
"To a man utterly without a sense of belonging, mere life is all that matters. It is the only reality in an eternity of nothingness, and he clings to it with shameless despair."