Ways to show self respect
12 Ways To Show Yourself Respect
1. Figure out what makes you respect yourself.
First, look within and question what practices make you feel your absolute best. Then, pay yourself the respect of prioritizing them daily. For example, exercising regularly, starting every day with a green juice, and being under the covers by 10 p.m. are all ways I show myself respect.
2. Be honest about who you are and who you aren't.
Once you know what makes you feel good, continue to prioritize it—not only with yourself but with others. Lead with honesty. This means that if you know working outdoors at a farm sanctuary is what you're here to do, then you have no business working 9 to 5 at a desk job for the next decade. You're disrespecting your talents and interests, and you're keeping the desk job from someone who'd actually excel in that position.
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3. Respect yourself by taking action around things that excite you.
Yes, taking action on the unknown can be scary stuff. We're never guaranteed our ideal outcome, and that can cause us to retreat, big time. But the most successful people aren't afraid to try something new. Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard, and the rest is history. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak began Apple in their garage. You get the picture!
4. Stop trying so hard to be "normal."
The only way to stand out is to be your idiosyncratic, real, quirky self. It's easier said than done, but consider this: All those folks you look up to have taken ownership of what sets them apart and leveraged it to their advantage.
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5. Don't let other people define your boundaries.
Many people have good intentions, but their advice is often clouded by their emotional baggage.
So when someone tells you "You'll never be able to do that" or "You shouldn't" or "You can't," ignore them until you have figured out for yourself what's true.
6. Learn to say no.
Letting others know what isn’t OK doesn’t make you a bad person; it makes you a strong and respectable person. When you stop saying yes to things you don’t want to do, you create more time and energy to engage with the activities and people that do make you happy. Here's some more advice about how to get into the habit of saying no.
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7. Choose a partner who respects you.
You know the first place all of us tend to throw self-respect out the window? Yup, you guessed it: dating. I speak to countless people who have so much to offer but are stuck in a relationship that forces them to compromise some part of themselves and live in a state of numbing self-sacrifice.
They need to muster up the self-respect to start over. Though scary, breaking off a relationship will be less painful than being with a partner who doesn't want or isn't capable of giving you what you need.
8. Let whatever you get done today be enough.
Show self-respect means not being overly self-critical, judgmental, or restrictive. It's so easy to chain ourselves to a to-do list and then gauge our worthiness on its completion. Practice making purposeful shifts toward self-kindness by saying to yourself as you finish one task and contemplate the next: "I could do this, or I could not. If I choose to stop now, I will allow whatever I have completed today to be enough, and I will not beat myself up for it."
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9. Know that you are not your genes.
You could spend a lifetime untying the knots of your family life—but that's your choice.
Conversely, at any point, you can reflect on our childhood influences and declare, "This is not my story. I am not my genes."
10. Apologize with self-respect.
Saying "I'm sorry" is seldom pleasant or easy to do, so if you're going to do it at all, make it count! An important part of apologizing is learning not to make excuses because that's just disrespectful to the other person and to your integrity. So next time you're tempted to plead your case, lay a hand on your heart, check in with that inner barometer, and listen to the truth. If an apology is called for courageously, offer one (minus the excuses).
11. Be willing to accept reality.
You must be willing to see things and people as they are. It can be painful to acknowledge that there is a problem with ourselves, our loved ones, or a situation. But if you don't deal with the problem with curiosity and courteousness, your situation will be prolonged. And that is not very respectful of your time and energy.
12. Write love notes to your body.
Our health, like everything else in our life, is a relationship. The more we pay attention to it and nourish it, the more our body thrives. Often when we consider becoming healthier, we find ourselves in front of the mirror looking at our bodies and wondering what we need to "fix."
Instead of making self-deprecation your morning ritual, stand in front of the mirror and list three things you love about yourself. Later, write them down, preferably on sticky notes. Then pick the one or two that make you feel the way you want to feel every single day and leave these love notes on your bedroom mirror, in your wallet, on the TV remote, or anywhere you can read them every day.
Self-respect is all about treating yourself the way you'd want others to treat you. By focusing only on our self-perceived faults and flaws, we're basically giving permission for the rest of the world to focus on them too!
17 Ways to Respect Yourself (And Why It's Important)
Respect is one of the greatest gifts we could give ourselves.
People spend lifetimes learning how to appreciate and value their own skills, opinions, and sense of self.
Many times we find ourselves questioning our own abilities and strengths.
How can we demand respect from others, if we often lack respect for ourselves? Let’s explore how we can change that for good, and go down the path of self-respect.
What It Means to Respect Yourself
Having self-respect impacts every aspect of your life. It means you are proud of who you are and accept your flaws or imperfections.
You don’t feel as if you have to be perfect, and you can forgive yourself for mistakes made in the past.
You know how to set healthy boundaries for yourself and others, and you stay true to those boundaries.
You don’t accept bad behavior from others and have a high expectation of how you want to be treated.
The truth is, there are many different types of people in this world, some of whom may try to take advantage of others, manipulate others, and treat others badly.
We simply cannot tolerate such behavior when we have a healthy level of self-respect for ourselves.
Let’s explore how you can respect yourself more and improve your life :
17 Ways to Respect Yourself
1. Take time for self-care
Society puts busy people on a pedestal. It’s good to be busy, but what’s better is allowing yourself the opportunity to not be busy at all. You are not a robot and can’t be productive 150% of the time.
The brain needs time to decompress so it can function at full capacity. Take that bubble bath or read for leisure. You owe it to yourself to relax!
2. Surround yourself with positive influences
You are who you surround yourself with. According to Psychology Today, the people you choose to surround yourself with largely impacts your self-image and decisions. It’s important to respect yourself in this way because your time is limited.
Every day has 24 hours, so choose your daily influences wisely. The more you surround yourself with positive people, the more inspired and motivated you’ll be.
3. Love yourself endlessly
Being in love with someone comes with no strings attached. Love comes unconditionally. It’s necessary to apply the same mentality to your self-image.
Every part of your past and part of your body is a part of you.
All of your flaws and imperfections make up the wonderful person you are today. Everyone deserves love and respect, so dole out what’s due.
4. Express how you feel when you’re hurt
People can’t give you the respect you deserve if you don’t demand it of yourself.
It’s not pleasant to tell someone you care about that they hurt you, but in doing so you respect yourself.
The people that actually matter will care about your feelings. Drop the people who don’t. Speaking up about disrespect stops people from doing it in the future.
5. Know your worth
Your time is important. You are important! Never downplay your worth to yourself or anyone else. For example, you’re a skilled professional at what you do.
By knowing your worth, you can command negotiations with employers and shut down anyone who says otherwise.
This is an important notion that can carry over to any relationship in life.
6. Stay active
You only have one body. It will carry you through the best and worst times. That being said, you can respect yourself by respecting your body.
Staying active has benefits like releasing happy chemicals called endorphins. It also just makes you feel good in general because you’ll feel fit.
7. Stay true to who you are
Never water down who you are. Working on yourself is great because everyone can always improve, but not if it means changing your identity completely.
Since everyone deserves respect, that means your true self deserves respect.
Not everyone will love you, but you will love yourself. People will love you for who you really are.
8. Follow your heart and dreams
The only thing that separates people from what they really want in this life is drive. Hard work beats out talent any day of the week.
As long as you know what you want and what will make you happy, you can work towards it.
The universe may present challenges to you, but you can overcome anything with the right mentality.
Respect what your heart wants and the dreams that come with it.
9. Don’t accept toxicity from anyonePeople only get away with as much as you let them. Whether someone is a family member or childhood friend, you deserve respect at all times.
If someone doesn’t recognize your worth, then they are not worth your time. Cut out negative people from your life and quick. You owe that to yourself.
10. Define your values
You owe yourself respect more than anything else.
A way to respect yourself is by knowing who you are as a person and what you stand for.
By taking the time to really reflect on what is important to you, it becomes easier to know what violates your schema.
Take the time to figure out your values in order to honor them.
11. Learn how to set boundaries
It’s not always easy to say no. When a friend is being pushy about making you go out when you’d rather read or force you into a favor, it can be uncomfortable to set boundaries.
The fact is that a part of self-respect is the ability to set guidelines about how you feel and want to be treated.
Respect yourself by being completely comfortable with the idea of only doing what makes you feel comfortable. People will respect you more for it.
12. Don’t downplay emotions
A part of respecting yourself is acknowledging that your feelings are valid. If you are sad about something, let yourself feel that way.
The same goes for being angry.
Bottling up your emotions is unhealthy in the long-term. It only hurts you as time goes on.
13. Learn from mistakes without beating yourself up
The only mistake you can really make in life is not learning from them. Every mistake is a lesson. If you really respect yourself, you will take notes on these lessons.
It doesn’t help your self-worth by demonizing your actions. Just pick yourself up and move on with your life.
14. Get comfortable with alone time
Respecting yourself is the most important thing you can do because at the end of the day, you are all you have.
Of course, that’s not to say that you don’t have friends and family that adore you. Yet, when you’re alone in a room by yourself it is just you.
Being comfortable spending time alone and being happy with it is essential to honor yourself. You need to love yourself first before loving anyone else.
15. Spend money on happiness
McDonald’s burgers may make you happy temporarily, but memories will make you the happiest. Save money, but also spend it on experiences.
Travel to a foreign land or just a neighboring city. Go to concerts and dance with your friends. Spending money on frivolous things is just a disservice to yourself.
16. Make sure you go outside regularly
Humans are animals, although we’re a lot smarter than most. Naturally, most animals can’t be cooped up in cage all day. The same applies to you!
Science says that exploring nature has a multitude of benefits from preventing disorders to beating out pain medication in some scenarios.
Honor yourself by giving into mother nature more often. Vitamin D is essential!
17. Approach life with curiosity
Instead of dreading a decision, trust yourself to make it. Don’t be afraid of turning the next page in the chapter of your life.
Think about how interesting it would be to make a certain decision, or follow a different path.
Your mentality of how you approach life changes how you lead your life. Respect yourself enough to trust your path fully.
Always remember that respect is given, and it’s a gift that we must give ourselves each and every day. Share your thoughts in the comments below:
How to learn to respect yourself | PSYCHOLOGIES
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Know Yourself
Agree: if we do not love and do not appreciate ourselves, then, willy-nilly, we begin to blame others for the pain we experience, and as a result we are overcome by anger, frustration and depression.
But what does it mean to respect yourself? I love the definition that young Kathy gave: “It means accepting yourself for who you are and forgiving yourself for the mistakes you have made. It's not easy to come to this. But if you can eventually walk up to the mirror, look at yourself, smile and say, "I'm a good person!" “It’s such a wonderful feeling!”
She's right: healthy self-esteem is based on the ability to see yourself in a positive way.
Here are seven principles to help you feel better about yourself.
1. Your self-image should not depend on other people's assessments
Many of us form our self-image based on what others say. This leads to the development of real dependence - a person cannot feel normal without approving assessments.
Such people seem to be saying, “Please love me, and then I can love myself. Accept me, and then I can accept myself." They will always lack self-respect, as they cannot free themselves from the influence of other people.
2. Don't talk bad about yourself
Your mistakes and weaknesses do not define you as a person. The more you say to yourself: "I'm a loser, no one loves me, I hate myself!" - the more you believe these words. Conversely, the more often you say: “I deserve love and respect,” the more you begin to feel worthy of this person.
Try to think more often about your strengths, about what you can give to others.
3. Don't let others tell you what to do and be
It's not about the arrogant "my interests above all", but about not letting others tell you how to think and what to do.
To do this, you need to know yourself well: your strengths and weaknesses, emotions and aspirations.
Do not adapt to the desires and requirements of others, do not try to change just to please someone. This behavior has nothing to do with self-respect.
4. Be true to your moral principles
Many do not respect themselves because they once committed unseemly acts and compromised moral principles. There is a good saying about this: “If you start thinking better about yourself, then you will act better. And the better you act, the better you will think of yourself.” And this is true.
The converse is also true. Think badly about yourself - and behave accordingly.
5. Learn to control your emotions
Self-respect implies that we can control our emotions so as not to harm ourselves and others. If you uncontrollably show anger or resentment, then you put yourself in an awkward position, and possibly destroy relationships with others, and this inevitably reduces your self-esteem.
6. Expand your horizons
Look around: many people live in their little world, believing that no one needs their thoughts and knowledge. They consider themselves narrow-minded and prefer to keep quiet. How you think you are is how you act. This rule always works.
Try to diversify your interests, learn new things. By deepening your knowledge of the world, you develop your thinking abilities and become an interesting conversationalist for a variety of people.
Life is full of possibilities - explore them!
7. Take Responsibility for Your Life
Each of us has our own idea of what is right for us, but we do not always follow it. Start small: stop overeating, switch to healthy food, drink more water. I guarantee that even these small efforts will definitely increase your self-esteem.
About the Author
Dawson McAllister is a radio host, motivational speaker, and author. He maintains the blog The Hope Line.
Text: Alina Nikolskaya Photo credit: Getty Images
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How to learn to respect yourself: 7 main principles
Published:
com We all want to be respected. But it's hard to earn the respect of others if you don't respect yourself. Agree: if we do not love and do not value ourselves, then, willy-nilly, we begin to blame others for the pain that we experience, and as a result, we are overcome by anger, frustration and depression.
Psychologist Vladimir Reshetnikov offers seven principles that will help you develop healthy self-respect.
"Most often, when we disrespect ourselves, we repeat scenarios of someone else's actions towards us. In other words, we learned to treat ourselves disrespectfully from a person who treated us disrespectfully.
Yes, if childhood is what the time when adults hurt us, then adulthood is when we hurt ourselves. (hereinafter, the author's spelling and punctuation are preserved - ed. note)
There are many ways to disrespect yourself:
- Devalue your feelings and needs.
- To scold oneself, consider oneself not a good enough person.
- Blame yourself for your character.
- Suppress your emotions.
- Lie to yourself, maintain your denial and believe the lie.
- Judge yourself very severely for every slip.
- To accept sex, but, in fact, to want love.
- Renounce yourself.
- Create financial stress for yourself.
- Keep grievances for a long time without working them out in yourself.
- To do something without desire.
"Self-respect is a form of our relationship with ourselves, this is the stage of development, without which it is impossible to achieve personal maturity," says the psychologist.
According to the expert, healthy self-esteem is based on the ability to see yourself in a positive way.
What does it mean to respect yourself:
- Be willing to think independently, to have your own unique opinion.
- To be ready to know yourself, your feelings, desires, needs and fears.
- Be vulnerable and self-confident at the same time.
