One form of intrinsic motivation is autonomy or self-reliance. Autonomy is the belief that we are in control of what is going on around us and have a choice in how a behavior works out.
Where do we see this?
When we are born, we rely on others for our survival. Our youth is spent learning and growing. Then, as teens and young adults, we have a strong drive towards independence (autonomy from our parents) to be able to live completely reliant on ourselves for what we do, when we do it, and how we do it. We want to make our own choices.
What to do with this:
Knowing this, we can understand that there is always an interaction between "self" and those around us. As we move through this environment and interact with others, we can try to maximize our autonomy by focusing on the things that are in our control and de-emphasizing the things that are out of our control. We don't like it when we are forced to do something (or at least perceive that we have no choice in the matter) but we can realize that at some level we always have a choice and therefor, we are always autonomous.
Best,
Andrew
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@andrewzimmbd