Everyone has a sense of individual worth. Either we feel a positive pull or a negative pull. A very large degree of our own worth is tied to how we are treated by others (especially from those who are significant in our lives). We can also tell our individual worth by how we respond to the way we are treated and how useful we feel to others.
Most people don’t realize how self-worth and self-esteem represent two different concepts. Self-worth is linked to self-respect and the feeling of one’s value or worth as a person. Self-esteem is linked to self-confidence or self-assurance of one’s judgement, abilities, power and good feeling about one’s self.
Both concepts are desirable qualities to obtain, but to discover our true worth is a more treasured possession to acquire. It is important to understand the powerful impact that acceptance, praise and encouragement have on individual self-worth and confidence. Likewise, rejection, being criticized and blamed, low expectations and lying can create a powerful impact towards personal doubt and negative self-worth.
Maintaining a strong relationship is directly related to a sense of worth and confidence. Feeling acceptance and affection from loved ones is vital to a sense of self-worth. Sadly, parents often do not demonstrate or show adequate love and affection to their children or each other. These outward expressions are vital to emotional development and personal growth and greatly enhances the sense of acceptance and belonging to the family affecting one’s self-worth.
Early strong relationships keep people on the right path of life and brings confidence in their abilities of independence and better judgment to cope with the hardships of life.
A healthy self-worth is the result of understanding the true nature of our value, potential, usefulness, and contribution to others. It is also tied to hope and the effort made to improve, change, and progress in moving forward.
When we express and show care to others, we contribute to their personal worth. We become great in their minds and hearts and the object of their love and a source of inspiration. You must love and value your own self-worth taking care of yourself so you can care for others. This does not mean you are selfish but that you are responsible.
In today’s society, we are quickly moving towards becoming a culture of rejection due largely to parents laying aside their most important duty to their children and to each other. Loved ones are being neglected, abandoned and abused because of selfish reasons. When this happens, there is a high price to be paid as children always pay the highest price and their self-worth is greatly affected.
In today’s world, others often measure their self-worth based on society’s criteria of worth as in wealth, status, material possessions physical appearance and achievements. When we do not live up to our own expectations or others’ false expectations, we suffer negative consequences to our self-worth. When we experience loss from a divorce, injury, employment or death, our own self-worth diminishes. You are worth more than your worst mistake. Self-worth cannot be taken from us, but we can lose sight of who we are.
When we truly care for and love the people whom we love and serve, we will immediately contribute to their self-worth. We must believe we have self-worth and can learn from our past mistakes and imperfections. What we love and treasure has a direct impact to our self-worth because it affects our usefulness to others. The more useful we are to others, the more self-worth we gain.
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