Self-Respect

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Something to remember is that you want to enthusiastically keep yourself safe, by keeping your self-respect intact and your boundaries firm.

You see, if you are always a push-over and give in, then your boundaries are slipping, and so is self-respect.  Then you end up tired, and cranky, and especially cranky with yourself.

Think of it this way…

Imagine you live in a house with no walls, so you put your walls up, and that keeps you safer, doesn’t it?

Then you notice that people trample your flower beds, and eat fruit from your tree, because you don’t have a fence.

So you put up your fence, so that keeps you safer still.

Then one day, a travelling salesman knocks at the gate, and you say, “come to my front door.” 

Have you maintained your boundaries?  No!  Have you invited danger to enter – even though he looks perfectly harmless?  Yes!

Next, you say, “well, I guess I could trial this plan…” and now you have opened wide.

That night, you hear on the news that you have been scammed, like hundreds of others.

But you know what, you relax those boundaries every day, whenever you don’t stop and think about the consequences of going over time allotted for an appointment…

The consequences of letting your child get away with something because you are a bit tired and what does it matter really, if she or he backchats you…

The erosion of your self-respect when your partner reads the paper over dinner and completely ignores you…

The disrespect you show others when you do that to someone else…

The frustration you feel because no-one listens to you… 
Why should they?  You’ve invited your boundaries to collapse and said “walk all over me, I am invisible, I do not exist”. 

Reclaim your boundaries and reclaim your power!  It is your birthright and you deserve it!  Love and respect yourself first, and others will give that to you in return.  Have integrity within, and respect will follow you like a beautiful loving puppy!

Be totally enthusiastic about you and your values, because you’re worth it.