Your Worth Was Never Up for Negotiation ~ Rebuilding the Way You See Yourself
September has a way of making us think about beginnings. New schedules. New routines. New goals.
There is something about this time of year that makes us look at where we are and wonder what we want to change. But before we decide what we want to accomplish, perhaps there is a more important question:
How do I feel about the person who is going to accomplish it?
Self-worth is a difficult subject because so many of us learned to measure ourselves by what we do:
How successful are we?
How much do we give?
How much do people need us?
How well are we holding everything together?
But your worth cannot be measured by your productivity, your relationship status, your past mistakes, your appearance, your career or someone else's opinion of you.
You have worth because you are you.
It sounds simple.
It isn't always easy to believe.
Life has a way of giving us experiences that make us question ourselves.
A difficult relationship.
A loss.
A divorce.
A career change.
A mistake.
A betrayal.
A season where we simply didn't recognize ourselves anymore.
It doesn't!
Your circumstances may change you.
They may challenge you.
They may reveal parts of you that you didn't know existed.
But they do not determine your worth.
One of the most important parts of rebuilding identity is learning to separate what happened to you from who you are.
That takes honesty.
It also takes compassion.
In Power Within Her, we ask women to look at themselves—not only at what they don't like but at what they do.
What do I like about myself?
What qualities do I have?
What have I survived?
What am I proud of?
What do I know about myself now that I didn't know before?
These aren't small questions.
They are the beginning of a different relationship with yourself.
And here is where I will gently push you:
Stop waiting for someone else to establish your worth.
If you need another person's approval before you believe you're valuable, your sense of worth is still in someone else's hands.
Take it back.
You don't have to become arrogant.
You don't have to believe you're perfect.
You only have to be You!
From My Heart To Yours,
Patti
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