How to gain Self Respect which eventually leads to Self Acceptance?
You cannot respect yourself if you don’t accept yourself. Respect is earned. How can you earn respect from yourself when you don’t even accept yourself?
You’re playing all sorts of games. You’re trying to be somebody else. You’re holding yourself up to ridiculous standards. You’re filling your head with all sorts of ideas that don’t make any sense as far as your life goes.
Choices between right and wrong have been around since Adam and Eve, and even when ethical standards are straightforward it’s not always easy to choose a hard right way over an easy wrong one.
Self-respect is crucial because if you do not have this, it’s too easy for others to treat you like a doormat. It’s too easy for people to take you for granted, abuse you, play games with you, and lie to you.
“The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity…these are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.” — Anonymous
Respect is all about drawing boundaries and expecting and living up to obligations.
Respect is gained by doing the right thing even if it is tough!
Right things mean – choosing truth over lies,
choosing right over wrong,
choosing honesty over dishonesty,
choosing ethical behaviour over unethical,
choosing the longer route rather than the shortcuts in life!
These kind of decisions will lead you to fearlessness and make you Respect yourself !
Unfortunately, you cannot love yourself if you don’t accept yourself. How can you? Love means trust. It means acceptance. It becomes easier to love yourself when you have done the right thing! ( just try it! )
You don’t trust yourself because you’re not who you want to be. You don’t accept yourself because you don’t have what you think you should have.
And without self-love, you cannot master yourself. You cannot spend enough time and attention to detail on yourself to make you a better person. It’s not just going to happen.
You’re always going to be running around because you hate yourself. You’re not happy with it. You’re trying to be somebody else. You’re trying to live other people’s lives. You’re trying to live up to their expectations.
You’re doing all these things, running around in circles, chasing your tail, because you do not love yourself. And it all comes back to self-acceptance.
Self-Respect Leads to Personal Boundaries and Autonomy
When you respect yourself , you have boundaries. You know who you are, and you know who you’re not. You know what you’re capable of, and you know what is beyond you. This is the beginning of power. This is what you owe to yourself.
Because when you know what you’re working with, you put yourself in a better position to control your assets. This enables you to invest your time better, which makes it harder for others to take advantage of you. It also makes it harder for others to abuse you.
Self-Love Leads to Mastery
When you love yourself truly, you’re not loving yourself to the extent that you become a horrible person. Instead, self-love leads to self-improvement because you discover your passions. You find out your true pride or true source of pride. And from these, you find out your areas of competence.
You love yourself enough to know that you are good at certain things and you invest enough time, effort and attention to them to build them up and to build up their value. This enables you to develop a healthier identity.
Because when you master certain things and you’re competent with certain things, you’re not running around trying to be all things to all people. You’re not trying to master everything. You just focus on what you know to be true.
This is where you develop real pride. And it’s rooted in competence. Nobody can take that away from you. Nobody can ridicule you in these points.
But remember this mastery has to be built on the cornerstone of self-love.
Frank L. Outlaw correctly states –
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
I strongly believe that.
Part -1 Joy of Being Imperfect If you don’t accept yourself who will?
Part-3 Joy of Being Imperfect – Letting go of Harmful Perfection
Part-4 Joy of Being Imperfect – Bravely Acknowledging your Flaws
Part-5 Joy of Being Imperfect – Quit Apologizing for your Flaws
Part-6 Joy of Being Imperfect – Making your Flaws an Asset
Part-7 Finale Joy of Being Imperfect – Learning to Move on