Hi D2C,
I myself am dealing with change at the identity level, and, yes it's not easy!
I can't help noticing that you are missing something... What do you really think of other people? What for do you want to please them? What for is it important people don't have anything bad to say about you? Will you fall into peaces if they do say? ;-)
People usually say something bad about everybody. It' human! Why not learn some ways to deal with it. That would make it a whole lot easier to live iside your head.
Iknow it took a whole lot of courage to write your message. I can see the signs. At the same time you want something desperately and are afraid of the results of your wants. What if someone answers and writes something "bad" about you ;-) ;-) :P ? Then you would be in a pickle! But if you knew how to deal with it.
Hmmm... after writing all this... How about New Behaviour Generator and learnng ways to deal with negative responses?
My 2 €cents
[He].2s2.2p4