I took a happiness course once. It said that instead of chasing status, we should chase flow. The idea being status is dependent on what others think, which is inherently unstable, while flow is joy for yourself.

There’s a book I read, can’t remember name but basically it said instead of chasing recognition, we should chase knowing. Recognition was lots of random strangers liking some surface thing about you. For example I like band X - if I saw them in public I’d want to say “hey I love your music!”. Or conversely, I think band X sucks, and I want to say that. It’s a shallow opinion held by many.

Knowing is respect by people who have the authority to actually evaluate your talents. In this case, it would be experienced musicians. What do they think of the band’s music? These people actually have the relevant experience to evaluate your work. If a group like that admires your work, it’s a deeper, more satisfying “like” than a bunch of random people. Yet we are typically wired to chase the approval of the masses.

These things can be hard, I certainly don’t do them all the time, but it’s helpful direction if you can relate to this article.