Self-worth, what is it really? Many of us don’t realize that we often don’t feel worthy of the things we desire. Seems crazy to think that way, but it’s true. I didn’t realize I had self-worth issues until I started planning bigger goals and dreams for my life and the little voice inside would say,

·      “that’s can’t happen to you”

·      “those types of things don’t happen to people like you”

·      “what makes you qualified to receive that”

There are three components of self-worth, they are:

·      self-respect

·      self-love

·      self-trust

Self-worth is defined as “the sense on one’s own value or worth as a person”. In life, it shows up as how you feel internally about yourself. Do you respect and value yourself? Do you truly love who you are? Do you trust the decision you make for your life? Do you even feel like you can make meaningful decisions? How do you celebrate your uniqueness?

Think deeply about the questions posed above. How do you honor yourself daily? This is a very important part of how you live your life. Your inner critic can destroy the image you hold of yourself. You must silence it and dig into your personal core values to build your self-worth. Here are some tips to help you along your journey.

Reflection

Through reflection and personal development reading, I realized that how I was thinking was a block that was holding me back from trying new things, getting out of my box and getting into action. First, I had to get honest with myself about where I was. I was nowhere near where I wanted to be because I was in doubt about achieving my end-goal, so as a result I never started. This is the power of reflection, you get to see what you did or in my case didn’t do, where you went wrong and how to change it.

The key is not to beat yourself up, but to celebrate the fact that you are continuing to learn and go after your dreams courageously. You continue to resolve your blocks and keep progressing forward. Use your past to build yourself up and enhance your life. You make your past more valuable by investing what you have learned into your future.

Journaling

Journaling is a great way to release thoughts, feelings and behaviors without judgement. There are many ways that one can journal. You can journal for clarity through reflection journaling. You can journal for manifesting your vision which involves journaling by writing about the things you want either in the past or future tense. This is productive because it gets you actively feeling in a way that will bring your vision to life. Brain dumping is also a great form of journaling.

When I first started, this is what I did. I had so many thoughts swirling in my head all day, every day. In the morning and before bed, I would write down everything that came to mind. This allowed me to process what was going on, evaluate its validity in my life and let it go.  I then had the opportunity to address, resolve and eliminate what didn’t serve me. When I feel low or on days when doubt tries to surface I go back and read my previous entries to see how far I have come. There’s nothing like proof to eliminate doubt.

Reflecting on my journaling also indicated just how much I had grown as a person. It showed how my thoughts had evolved and how my energy changed. I also got to see how my dreams and goals came to pass. It’s important to write your intentions down because it activates them and makes them real. Some people choose to have separate journals or just one. Whatever you prefer, just getting writing. You will be blown away with the results.

Finding Your Joy

While I was working on me I realized that I had lost my joy. After years of nursing school, learning new jobs, being a wife and mother, I had lost touch with what I enjoyed doing. I mean I seriously couldn’t name one thing! So, I literally had to research what I previously found joy in and find it again. Of course, years had passed and some of those things didn’t make me happy anymore. The point is, I had to put some time into finding me again. If you can relate comment and let me know.

Know that you are worth having joy in your life, please take the time to re-discover it. No one can give it to you, you are the master of your own joy. I know I didn’t even realize I missed it until I got it back. Finding support and people who can relate to you are important. Sometime personal growth means going outside of your box and exploring other people and options available to you. Find some positive people that are where you want to be, you are the sum of the five closest people to you.

Until next time, live courageously :)