Where Does Self Respect Come From?...
Like yourself because of WHO YOU ARE... not because of what you can, or cannot do!
That's pretty much what having self-worth, what respecting yourself is all about. And that's pretty much what the intention of this page is about:
- I explore the respect of self, via inspirational quotes and my own personal experiences as shared in both text and video form.
And if you'd like to share your self-respect thoughts, then they will be most welcome!...
How Do We Learn To Respect Ourselves?
What I say...
I discuss the self respect wisdom of many in the video below - some commonly held views on self-respect. So here I'd like to focus on the self-respect inspirational quotes below, and use them as my guide to talk about this subject - one that influences factors like happiness, body image and other self-esteem issues.
(The inspirational quotes are listed below.)
Firstly, self-respect, for me, is a little
bit like self-confidence: you can decide to
switch it on, or leave it switched off. If you decide to respect yourself then others will
start to respect you - they really will.
This is not a chicken and egg situation: you must respect yourself before others will respect you!
It provides a person with strength; gives them access to their courage; and makes someone invulnerable to the hurtful, misguided words of others.
And it allows a person to take a balanced view of life, a balanced view of themselves - simply, YOU ARE ENOUGH! And when you interact with the world, with others, with that understanding of yourself it really does make life a whole lot easier.
So, how can we build our respect?
Well George Bernard Shaw has it right when he urges us to stretch ourselves, to grow, in order to help self-respect grow! Challenge yourself, challenge the stories you tell yourself, and above all challenge what you expect to get out of life! Do all of these and respect for self will be boosted. Simple as that.
Okay, let's make this personal then, let's make this about me! Let's look at how I can grow my own self-respect:
- I can understand that the ONLY relationship that truly matters to me, that I MUST ALWAYS pay full attention to, is the relationship with self. All other relationships - no matter the 'pain' that may result - must be allowed to 'flow' as they may; it is okay to 'let go'
- I can strive to ALWAYS express my truth, to myself and to others - do it wisely, and lovingly, but never be frightened of the 'consequences' of doing so
- I can think BIG about my life, about what I can still achieve in it, and I can set out to do so, one step at a time...
Yes, I think doing these things above will help my self-respect - just writing these words down is empowering, to be honest.
How about you? What challenges can YOU set for yourself that WILL stretch who you think you are, that will help you respect yourself more?
Self-respect - what these inspirational quotes say...
"If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you."
-- Dostoyevsky"He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce"
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"If I despised myself, it would be no compensation if everyone saluted me, and if I respect myself, it does not trouble me if others hold me lightly."
-- Max Nordau"Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough."
-- Gail Sheehy"No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect."
-- George Bernard Shaw
What I say on YouTube...
Self respect - what these recommended resources have to say...
Does
the 'answer' to respecting yourself lie here via taking action...
- Get involved - either share your story with others (a story of success or sorrow), or join our newsletter and be exposed to emails that encourage you to love yourself more!
- Take relentless action whilst doing something challenging and new (something you'd never expect yourself to be able to do). For example, I'm thinking of learning to sing or to be a stand-up-comedian - and you might consider creating your own income-generating website, like I have done.