This is completely tautological and therefore nonsensical. Status is a pure social construct without any physical, objective markings. What you imagine as "de

This is completely tautological and therefore nonsensical. Status is a pure social construct without any physical, objective markings. What you imagine as "deriving my self worth from internal rather than external validation" is purely interiorizing the external validation - in effect, fixing the external validation into your psyche. Of course, if your own opinion of yourself happens to be at odds with the other's appreciation of you, the mismatch will make your life worse. Nobody likes for long self-absorbed, egocentric people who never seem to "get" any hints.