‘You’re born alone, you die alone’: Priyanka Chopra on identifying self-worth and dealing with trolls

On self-worth

According to perception architect Vivek Vashist, “Self-worth erodes when attention is turned outward for too long and life becomes a loop of observation rather than participation. The more you interpret yourself through other people’s lives, the less access you have to your own.”

To rebuild strength, reverse the direction of awareness. Do one act each day that no one sees — something that belongs only to you, not for applause, not for proof.

When your effort is no longer a public performance, comparison stops feeding on you. “The goal isn’t to quit social media, it’s to quit confusing visibility with value,” added Vashist.

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Battling trolls

The body doesn’t know it is digital, it reads disapproval as a danger. “Evolution trained us to equate belonging with survival, so rejection still sets off alarms, even in a comment thread,” explained Vashist.

If your identity depends on how others respond, every critique becomes proof of a private fear: that you’re not enough. The antidote isn’t building armor; it’s building grounding. Conversations that matter, people who know you offline, time spent in real presence — these recalibrate the nervous system to safety. You stop mistaking noise for threat.

Detaching from external validation

Start by reclaiming authorship of your own thoughts, elaborated Vashist. Notice how often you describe others instead of revealing yourself. “Each ‘I think‘ or ‘I feel’ recenters the narrative on you where it belongs, and then build a structure around it,” he said, suggesting the following measures:

1. Measure effort, not applause. The process is the mirror; the outcome is just reflection.
2. Keep private wins. Small, unseen victories are the bricks of quiet confidence.
3. Audit motives. Before acting, ask if it’s expression or performance.
4. Stay emotionally neutral. Praise and criticism are weather — notice them, don’t build houses under them.
5. Anchor offline. People who know your real tone, not your digital persona, stabilise your identity.
6. Confidence matures when attention returns home. You stop asking others to echo your worth because you can finally hear it yourself.

And as Priyanka Chopra stressed, “Just remind yourself all the hoo-haa isn’t necessarily the definition of who you are… you’re born alone, you die alone …it’s a solitary journey… It’s your legacy that you leave behind. And your legacy will be what it is, it’s not who you are…”