Changing yourself only to win someone’s approval feels like renovating a house you’ll never get to live in.

Changing yourself to win someone over builds a life to another person’s specification. Even if it works, you are the one who has to live inside the result, doing things you do not enjoy for an audience who may well move on. Approval is a poor blueprint because it belongs to somebody else.

Test any change you are making by asking whether you would still want it if the person never noticed. If the honest answer is no, the change is not for you. Keep the ones that would survive their indifference.