I am a housewife. I cook, clean, wash dishes, take care of the kids, and find the dust bunnies in the corners of the room that no one else notices. I change the sheets and fluff the pillows that everyone in my house lays on. No one appreciates the fact that they are line-dried and smell of the best fabric softener my hard-earned money can buy. No one seems to realize that without my constant work and motion, little would get done, few would be fed, and countless other things would be completely non-existent.
Doing so much for so little recognition can make it easy to feel like I don’t matter, that my worth to the world is hardly useful beyond the confines of my own home. If I died tomorrow, the world as a whole would not change. I could sit for hours commiserating about my own self-worth, feeling as though I have nothing to offer and that I am a slave to the labors of life. Boring, routine, and yes…unimportant!
Realizing Your Self-Worth
The good news is that I have a choice—just like all of us do! You have the choice to understand your self-worth at all costs and to feel good about everything that makes us unique and who we are. There’s an old expression that says no one can make you feel any way without your approval! This is perhaps the most altruistic expression that describes the individual power of each person.
To understand your self-worth, you must first realize that it is not measured by anything external. It doesn’t matter how much money you make or how you look. It doesn’t matter what kind of car you drive or how successful your kids or family are. Self-worth is not about anything other than the inner you that you know. Self-worth is about realizing all at once that who you are and what you are is a divine creature of substance that gives something extra special to this world with every breathing moment of your life.
I am not a religious person per se. I believe wholeheartedly in God and am filled with gratitude for life in a way that words cannot express. I pray daily, nightly, and every moment in between. I ask for understanding, peace, love, happiness, and all the things that God is to me. I am humbled to stand with two feet planted on an Earth that is so much bigger than any one of us, yet holds all the treasures needed to sustain each of us. Like thread, I am part of a massive quilt of mankind that would not be the same without me.
I understand that my self-worth transcends modern methods of reasoning, and that feeling bad about what I do for a living or what I earn only negates and probably irritates a God who has clearly given each of us so much!
To understand your self-worth, you must be able to see past the obvious. It’s equally important to look beyond the exterior character that each person creates as a way of hiding. When we see qualities we can respect, love, and admire in others, we are mirroring aspects of ourselves that we feel the same about. Similarly, when we find things that we disdain in others, we are simply reflecting on those things about ourselves where we have not yet begun to understand our own self-worth.
All of us are creatures who can change at will. We are not butterflies that have to wait and live in cocoons before we can unfold and bloom. With each morning, we can embrace our own self-worth and make it a day to remember. Everything we need to be happy is provided, always! It’s just left up to our choice.
Many people I know spend hours in a daze of self-criticism. They feel bad because they are overweight or because they don’t have enough money. They live in a world that somehow perpetuates them to feel badly. Secretly, I think they like it there. By always focusing on the negative aspects of life, they ensure that they never understand their own self-worth or the superb impact they can have. It enables them to remain unmotivated. It’s as if they are victims of their own life and mind.
Being fat, poor, ugly, lazy, or having any negative quality does not mean a life is without value. First, we must be able to feel gratitude for what we have, realize the importance of each breath we take, and decide daily that we are worthy of this day of life.
Along the road of life, many people try to inadvertently change our self-worth. Sometimes a stranger, teacher, parent, friend, or relative’s words can sit harshly on our shoulders, forever leaving a scar that damages our self-worth. The older we get, the more important it is to understand your self-worth and realize that no one can take it away from you without your permission. As we seek to understand how much we have to offer in life by way of our presence, we can begin to thoroughly understand our self-worth.
For me, sometimes it’s irritating that no one understands or appreciates all that I do. I’ve learned, though, that often the thankless and silent tasks we do are done to make ourselves feel complete. To understand your self-worth takes time and patience, but it’s the most important task we have to become the kind of person we can admire. The journey is as individual as the hair on each of our heads, and as important as anything in life we strive to accomplish!
