Self-Reliance vs Self-Sufficiency: The Difference Is Crucial to Your Happiness
Life is not meant to be simply survived
In psychology, many terms start with “self”. There is self-esteem, self-confidence, self-worth, and self-expression, all of which are words we casually use. Self-reliance and self-sufficiency are not so common parts of our everyday speech.
Being sufficient
Self-sufficiency is … self-explanatory. One more “self”-word. I did not even choose it on purpose. Self-sufficiency implies that one is able to sustain their life and fulfil their needs on their own without others’ input.
Self-reliance is more abstract to me. It hints at the belief that one can manage to fight challenges on their own. It sounds somewhat similar to self-sufficiency, but there is one significant difference. Self-reliance is the trust in one’s abilities. Generally, one may be able to sustain their life independently yet fear the unknown. From the outside, such a person might appear strong and capable when, in fact, their soul is in pieces.
Self-sufficiency may carry a negative connotation, in the sense of being arrogant, even selfish. Some use the term to label people who live alone and are seemingly alright with being a loner wolf.
