Choosing between what is more important, happiness or self-respect, is a hard choice but I think I would have to choose self-respect. I believe that when you have self-respect you can have happiness, at least inside your own thoughts. Self-respect is a great characteristic to have, I think. With self-respect you can accomplish many of things, more than someone that lacks the characteristic. People can be happy without having much self-respect for themselves, but they are not truly happy. A happy person in public is fun to be around, talk to, laugh with, but they may not be the same in a room with themselves only. My point is that happiness is a mood and a mood comes and goes but self-respect is a value. It’s a value that makes other people have respect for you, take you seriously and even put trust in. Happiness comes with self-respect, but self-respect doesn’t necessarily come with happiness. You could have all the riches of the world, the handsomest man, the best-behaved children that exist, the biggest house, the longest limo, etc., but will that make you love yourself? Will you exist as yourself without the luxuries? I often think of the well off, money wise, people and wonder, do those materialistic things truly make them happy?
Self-respect didn’t come naturally to me, I have struggled with it for many years, and still dealing with it. It is a hard concept for me, but I believe you really can’t be truly happy with yourself unless you have self-respect. For many years I lived not really having to think for myself, never made a crucial decision on my own and when I did, it was always the wrong one. I lost my self-respect; it was easier to lose it then to fight for it, which obviously was the wrong choice for me. I had to make a choice, some type of happiness or my own self worth. I chose me and that is why I am here writing this blog for you to read.
Can you imagine not having any kind of self-respect, how could you really be happy? Could you be happy for someone who had no self-respect? If you had no self-respect, you couldn’t respect anyone else. It’s kind of like the saying, “you can’t truly love anyone else unless you love yourself first.” The same principle applies. You can’t respect anyone else unless you respect yourself first. Respect is important, more important than happiness, more important than love, kindness, and all the other emotions.
Happiness comes in all shapes and sizes, but respect is a solid form. People that attend college and want to better themselves have self-respect. Accomplishing your goals in life shows self-respect to others and having respect for yourself will in return be shown back to you. Respect is a powerful thing. It is more than just an emotion or feeling, like happiness, it has capabilities to change to world. It is a value and a characteristic that will make you shine.
It is very true that self-respect is a value and not a mood. You make some very valid points about self-respect and the need we all have to acquire it. It is a battle often hard but some find it easy. When we have self-respect, we can find happiness within ourselves and others. Without it we often seem lost and have that look of being unsure in everything we encounter.
ReplyDeleteMany individuals have come to feel self-respect is more of a materialistic thing but it is not. Having the best of everything does not lead to that place we all desire when we respect ourselves and the other values we hold so dear. Possessions have nothing to do with how we truly feel about our self and just confuse us more.
Through self-respect, we can gain others respect as well as respect others. Without it it is a daily battle to be happy and secure in our lives.
I also have struggled with self-respect and know the feeling of not having any. It never leaves your mind but often gets shoved into the corner we try to avoid. Once we have self-respect, we can become better individuals and do great things for those around us and society.
I definitely agree I would rather have my self-respect than be happy. I feel though if I have self-respect I would have my happiness along with it. When I think of losing self-respect I think of someone selling their body for money. I know majority are not happy about it, but some are. I definitely know though that very few of them still have their self-respect because there is no self respect when you are a prostitute.
ReplyDeleteYou are right you can be happy doing many things, but very few things truly offer self-respect as a benefit. I feel self respect when I tell people that I have two more classes and I'll have my AA or when I tell people I work a full time job. I have self-respect when I tell people that I play college softball and that I have offers to other colleges to play softball there. When I tell people all three I feel so accomplished.
Self-respect is definitely not an emotion, like you said it is a value. People who value themselves highly definitely I feel have high self-respect. Self-respect though can differ from person to person. I know my friend has a lot of self-respect and she graduated high school on time, when everyone told her she would not. She had a kid at seventeen. She has a job at McDonald's, but she is so proud of everything she has done. I think she should be proud because what she has done for herself in the situations she has put herself in she has done good for herself, but for me I would be so embarrassed if I had a kid at seventeen, I could have never done it.
I too identify with your reflections about self-respect even though I answered the same prompt and considered happiness to be more important than self-respect. I can appreciate what you said in regards to the fact that those who do not respect themselves can never achieve happiness. I too have struggled with confidence and I find that I must constantly reassure myself and focus on my goals in order to achieve what I intended. I'm not the most confident person, how ever I do pride myself in the tremendous respect I have for myself and the fact that I've always respected my feelings and what I believe in and taken them into consideration every time I've made a decision.
ReplyDeleteInitially I found it extremely difficult to express my thoughts to other people even when I felt it was of absolutely necessary. I let a lot of injustice occur and I witnessed a lot of things which I regret not standing up about. Most regrettably I let these instances influence my life in such a negative way and I regret not realizing the importance of respecting myself sooner. It seems logical that to achieve true happiness one must respect themselves and it is unfortunate that a lot of people do not.
Your views on self-respect are very admirable. I didn’t think of going to college and achieving one’s goals as a form of self-respect. I myself thought of self-respect mainly as a thing that involves solely on taking care of us and liking ourselves as a person. Imagine if one has the will and determination to go out and work for improvement in their lives then that counts as a form of self-respect.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing about your thought of self-respect that I didn’t agree with is the part where you said that by not having self-respect how can you respect others. I believe that everyone has a point, time, or moments in their life where they end up hating themselves in one way or another. Disliking yourself, not taking care of yourself, or anything involving hatred of yourself does not mean I don’t have respect for others. I know I have had days where I can not stand myself and I wish I were somebody else, but this didn’t stop me from respecting other people with what they say, what they do, or who they are at all. I would suppose this all depends on the person who has zero self-respect for themselves though.