✨Self-Respect: Pride and confidence in oneself; a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity.
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It took me a while to figure out that my level of self-respect was directly the result of how I was thinking about, speaking to, and behaving toward myself.
I thought it had everything to do with my evaluations of my outward behavior, but it turns out, my outward behavior was the direct result of how I thought about, spoke to, and behaved toward myself!
I thought that if I did all the things I was “supposed” to do and if I met all the expectations of myself and others that I would have a high level of self-respect.
Turns out, that wasn’t so! I was imposing unrealistic expectations on myself and then constantly disappointed when I didn’t meet them. This caused a lot of frustration, anxiety, and disappointment.
I had to take a step back and realize that it was only when I got really clear on the person I wanted to be (emphasis on person I wanted to be, not who other people wanted me to be), that I could take action on aligning my thoughts, words, and actions in a way that built my self-respect.
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➡️Are you familiar with the Be. Do. Have. paradigm?
In this paradigm, we start by “being” the person we want to be.
We cultivate the characteristics we want in ourselves (loving, kind, strong, successful) by “doing” the things we identify as honorable and dignified - acting in line with our priorities and our values.
In turn, we will eventually “have” the things we want as a result of being the person we want to be and doing the things in line with the person we want to be.
I’d say that one of the first things we “have” as a result of being the person we want to be and doing the things we want to do is self-respect.
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✅First step = get really clear on who we want to be, and identify the practices and habits that empower us to start being that person in thought, word, and deed.
✅Next step = start doing the things and acting in the ways that are in alignment with our values and priorities.
✅Third step = gain higher levels of self-respect.
✅Next step = repeat and be awesome.
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❤️I wish you the best on your journey of self-respect.
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