A few days ago a friend walked onto me and then we started discussing. We talked of almost everything that crossed our minds until he paused for a second and asked me of my self-worth. Get this right, I never had thought of this subject until then and I remember asking him if he is talking of my net worth but he corrected me and said, “self-worth my brother.”
It baffled me because that’s one thing that I had never thought off. I got home and searched what it meant and the definition was clear, self-worth is more than just how you feel about yourself, its more of your opinion of yourself and more precisely, self-worth is the value that you place to yourself.
If it’s about the value we place on ourselves, then I realise that it can be a quick judge. After all, I just need to see how you look, the number of followers in your social media handles and your bank account balance to know what your self worth should be, right?
WRONG! The undue value that society places on outward appearances is fuelled by the ignorance that everything we experience in the outward physical world has its origin in the inner mental world.
To rightly evaluate your self-worth, try this out. Make a list of all your material possession you feel add up to your self-worth. It should be things like your social media account followers and write how many you have, bank account balance and how much you have or even something as simple as the number of fashion clothes you have. Name it as ‘list one’. Then make a second list of all human values that you know you really value. Could be compassion, love or even honesty and name it ‘list two’.
From the two lists, compare between the two and ask yourself, which lists holds your true value?
Realising that you don’t need to compare yourself to anyone to know your self worth or feel it, means that you don’t have to depend on that relationship to feel good about yourself. In as much as it is tempting to let relationships dictate your self-worth, it’s been proved that having a healthy sense of self-worth will actually make your current relationship better too.
The importance of self-worth cuts across every field, from profession to relationship. You realise that you don’t have to compete with anyone to feel good about yourself cause we all have different ways of weighing in on our self-worth.
Knowing your own self worth leaves you with the options of never being sold short on any of your values and beliefs. Knowing your self worth builds a foundation in you for becoming self-aware of how you think of yourself. Having self-worth means that society doesn’t have to dictate how you look and what you have and tie it to your happiness.
Its only a step towards being more you and stop living your life as per society’s terms.
By Julius Kim…