WHOM AM I?

 We live in a world that is obsessed with identity. We classify ourselves by the color of our skin, the color of our hair, our age, our weight, our height, our experiences, our preferences. We recognize each other as students, or teachers, or workers, or managers, or as members of some other group. We think in terms of “us” and “them.” Divisive political rhetoric seeks to blame and shame others. Each identity term is loaded with meaning and associated expectations. And in a lot of ways, what we perceive about our own identity is reflected in the ways we end up treating each other.

Self-respect is the most crucial aspect of one’s life. If you do not understand how to appreciate yourself and your worth, how do you expect others to? Life is too short to maintain toxic relationships. In order for yours to flourish, you need to work on yourself first.

“Don’t expect anyone to love or respect you if you don’t fully love yourself first.”

 

 

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

– Aristotle

People accept sh*tty jobs and relationships because they do not respect themselves enough to realize they deserve better. Too many people become complacent in these aspects and stop striving for greater things.

Relationships become detrimental when the self-respect is lacking. You wind up hurting the other person and yourself. You need to love yourself enough to choose the ones that make you happy and motivate you to grow.

“Respect yourself enough to walk away from anyone or anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy.”

 

This does not come easy so a conscious effort must be consistently made on a day-to-day basis. A lack of self-respect can, and most often does, result in depression and self-destructive behaviors. You need to reinforce your positive qualities and actively try to fix your negative qualities. When everything else in the world fails you, you will always have your self-respect to fall back on. How you feel about yourself affects every single aspect of your life.

If you don’t respect yourself then you won’t take care of yourself the way you should. By achieving this, you set boundaries for your life and your relationships. This will encourage people’s deference to you. You cannot allow people to treat you poorly and if they do, you need to recognize your worth and walk away. Others cannot negatively influence your opinion of yourself; this will only lead to degradation of your worth. You must love and respect yourself before anyone else can.

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

 

Self-respect and self-esteem play hand in hand with one another. Self-esteem gives you the confidence to succeed and without it you are simply placing limitations on yourself.
You and only you are responsible for your fate. Life is no fun if you spend it hating yourself; this stifles any progress you hope to make. Once your confidence is up, you will stop making the terrible mistake of comparing yourself to others. You will already be comfortable and happy with who you are.

When you love yourself, you take pride in who you and what you have to offer. Too many people place the needs of others before their own, but in order to respect others, you need to meet your own needs first. How can you truly learn to appreciate others if you can’t even appreciate yourself? This is fundamental to personal growth and a concept too many people do not realize.