Become someone whose approval you would actually care to earn.

Most people spend years trying to satisfy someone whose judgment they have never examined. You can end up shaping a life around the good opinion of a person you would not ask for advice, simply because their approval was the one on offer early. The better move is to become the kind of person whose judgment is worth something, and then care what that person thinks of you.

Ask yourself who you are currently working to impress, and whether you actually admire how they live. If the honest answer is no, that is useful information rather than an accusation. Then work on becoming someone with standards you would respect from a distance, so that your own verdict starts to carry weight.