Without respecting yourself, you can’t really improve on yourself and your life. Why? Well, because self-respect is the foundation for the life we build. When that foundation is lacking, we have nothing to build upon. Self-respect influences your relationships, your career, your outlook on yourself…pretty much everything. Sadly, a lot of people don’t have much self-respect. This comes from not having a very good relationship with themselves, but luckily, everyone can learn how to love and honor themselves by changing their thinking patterns.
If you don’t have much motivation to love yourself, maybe we can convince you to start with these life-changing things that happen when you give yourself respect.
“Self-respect permeates every aspect of your life.” – Joe Clark
Here are 5 things that happen when you begin respecting yourself:
1. You learn self-love, too.
Self-love and self-respect pretty much go hand-in-hand. People who have more self-respect tend to have better self-worth, which translates into more love for themselves. Learning to like and love yourself has profound implications for your life. For one, you won’t tolerate anything or anyone that doesn’t love you as you are.
You won’t invite toxic friendships or relationships into your life any longer, because the level of love you have for yourself won’t allow it. You won’t indulge in poor dietary choices because you will only want to put loving things into your body. You won’t accept a job you hate because that means you don’t love or respect yourself enough to do something you actually enjoy. The list goes on and on, but the point is that self-respect paves the way to self-love, and armed with both of these, your life will flourish like never before.
2. You’ll learn to like being alone.
People who disrespect themselves generally don’t like solitude because that means being alone with their own thoughts and feelings, and this terrifies them. Why? Well, if you don’t have much self-respect, you probably don’t like yourself much and allow a lot of negative self-talk. However, when you have respect and love yourself, you’ll practice positive self-talk and engage in more loving behaviors, which means you’ll actually look forward to alone time.
3. You won’t care what others think.
People with low self-worth and self-respect tend to look to others for acceptance and admiration. However, when you enhance your view of yourself, all that will change. Instead of looking outwardly for a sense of belonging, you’ll find it within. You’ll feel comfortable in your own skin because you’ll realize that only your opinion of yourself matters. Caring what others think and looking to them for approval creates a prison in your mind; however, counting on yourself for those feelings creates liberation.
4. The world will look a little brighter.
When you have a negative view of yourself, you also have a pretty bleak view of the world around you. Your thoughts dictate your reality, so whatever you see in yourself will spread into your life, too. So, by respecting and loving yourself, you’ll learn to have a more positive outlook, which will help you have more optimism about both yourself and your world. People with low self-respect tend to see a glass half-empty, but you’ll start to see it half-full. This attitude will help you to navigate obstacles and challenges in life much more effectively, too.
5. The comfort zone won’t appeal to you anymore.
To most people, the world seems pretty scary, so they hide inside their covers to avoid anything uncomfortable. However, what they fail to see is that a lot of this discomfort stems from within. They don’t trust or love themselves enough to see that they have all the necessary tools to create a life that feels good to them. Self-respecting people, however, have confidence in their abilities and love pushing the envelope to test their limits. They know that self-imposed limits only hold them back.
Final thoughts
Sadly, too many people feel inadequate or inferior, and these beliefs greatly hold them back. It seems difficult to change thinking patterns and behaviors that have been learned, but in reality, all it takes is persistence and determination. No one can decide your self-worth but you, so remember this as you travel through life. Having respect for yourself can literally change your life if you’re willing to do the work to get there.
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