All healing is valid. We like to think that we can and “should” be able to resolve all of our own issues completely independently of anyone else’s influence or assistance, and I completely get the idea of wanting to do things that way with respect to matters of body image in particular… But there is no shame in transcending our hangups and our wounds through another’s support. Life is an interactive endeavor, and humans were made to be social creatures, after all. It is okay to care about another’s opinions (if that other person and their opinions are healthy), and it is MORE than okay to let their compassion and admiration stoke your own sense of self-love. Thank you for sharing your experience with such candor. You speak for many.