“Do you know what an image is? It is something carved by the hand, out of stone, out of marble, and this stone carved by the hand is put in a temple and worshipped. But it is still handmade, an image made by man. You also have an image about yourself, not made by the hand but made by the mind, by thought, by experience, by knowledge, by your struggle, by all the conflicts and miseries of your life. As you grow older, that image becomes stronger, larger, all-demanding and insistent. The more you listen, act, have your existence in that image, the less you see beauty, feel joy at something beyond the little promptings of that image.” – Source: J. Krishnamurti
A good explanation of how we get ourselves into more and more of a twist as life goes on. We have to be a ‘success’, we have to remain a ‘success’, we have to be ‘more successful’.
We imagine how others see us and we want them to see us in an even better light but this is just your imagination at work. Loose the desire to maintain/build your image and you can get on with enjoying life.