Your Own Self-Worth
How do you measure your own self-worth? Is it with the clothes you wear or the car you drive? Is it with the size of your house or the neighborhood you live in? Or maybe with a job you do, a school or college you attended, and your kids will go too? Maybe is with how many people have you helped, or how many lives you have changed during your lifetime? Or perhaps is something completely different from the above.
A Metric Hard to Live Up To
We all impose on ourselves different metrics hard to live up to. And what is even worse, society around us, our family and friends do it for us too. They create an ideal image of us and then expect us to live up to it. This then becomes a part of us. A new standard.
We are constantly surrounded by commercials telling us you need this; you need that, you can look better, younger, richer by consuming our products. They are trying to sell us something we didn’t even think we needed, but now we do. We need it to enhance our lives. To be worthy. But do we?
Victims of Today
Are we really falling victim to marketing and advertising? Science has proven that sadly this is the harsh truth. The average person in 2020 was exposed to 6,000 to 10,000 ads every single day. In 2007, it was around 5,000. And back in the 70s, it was reported that the average person saw between 500 and 1,600 ads per day. No wonder we associate our self-worth with wrong things today. And it’s hard to get away from it. Hard, but not impossible. There is a better way. A way where we determine what is our self-worth going to be, because:
- You are not your job. No matter what you do, just do it best that you can and if it fulfills you, that’s it. Don’t compare yourself to colleagues or a boss.
- You are not the size of your paycheck or how much money you have in the bank. Money is just a tool, so use it as a tool, not as a measure of success. Don’t let money be the master and you the slave. Because money is the worst master of them all. We all know the saying of actor Jim Carrey: “I hope everybody could get rich and famous and will have everything they ever dreamed of, so they will know that it is not the answer”.
- You are not your social media following, how many likes, comments, or retweets you get. Don’t let the opinions of others affect your inner value.
- You are not the number of friends you have. It’s better to have one true friend than 100 fake ones. One who will help you when you need it, support your decisions, and pick you up when you fall.
- You are not your grades, your relationship status, your age, how many countries you have visited or not, how famous you are or who you know, what other people think about you, etc.
People focus on the wrong things in life. Don’t be one of them. Don’t trust anything or anyone but yourself. You are the only one who can determine your own worth. If you believe you are worthy and valuable, you are worthy and valuable. Even if you don’t believe it, guess what – you still are.
Self-worth is defined as:
A feeling that you are a good person who deserves to be treated with respect
Then treat others with kindness, compassion, empathy, and you will feel worthy. You will be a good person in their eyes and they will think highly of you. We all have bad days when we feel down, but don’t let one bad day determine your entire worth. You are the only person responsible for how to live your life.
My Own Self-Worth
A few years ago, I decided I don’t want to convey my self-worth with the clothes, brands, car, or phone I use. I have so much to offer, and I don’t want people to judge me based on my appearance. Earlier this year, I made a decision to wear mostly monochromatic colors, no brands, and simple style. 70% of my clothes today adhere to these rules. I’m happy with 70%, but not satisfied. I would like that number to be as close to 100% as possible.
I will continue to buy high-quality things as always, because I appreciate design, build quality, and other product characteristics I value. Not to show my worth with it. On the rare occasions when I buy branded clothing these days, I try to remove the label if it’s possible or more often choose a version that looks unbranded from the outside. For certain items like electronic gadgets, it’s harder to remove the branding, but I don’t stress too much about that either. I know why I am buying what I am buying, and I also know that I take a long time to consider the purchase I am going to make. In my book, I count that as a win.
Minimalism has helped me to distinguish what is important to me and what is not. It helped me realize that my self-worth is not in all the things I own, in all the achievements I have had, and in all the other non-important stuff that marketing wants to impose on us. Maybe minimalism can help you too.
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Today I have a favor to ask; do something for yourself. Because you want it, not because someone said it would be good for you. Take a long walk, or take a hot bath, or make coffee/tea and enjoy the sunset alone. Think about your life and what is most important to you.
You are worthier than you think. Then be!
Cheers!
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