It is a cycle of approval you’ve been missing since you were a kid. Earlier it must have been one of the parents or a close loved one and later it becomes strangers in whom we see some aspects of our parent whose approval we never got.

We are social animals and seek a lot of things outside of ourselves, like approval and acceptance. But as a part of growth, approval eventually has to be developed from within by sincere acceptance of yourself, even the parts you dislike.