Value of Myself

Written by: Blue Dymond

According to Webster’s dictionary value is the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. 

We see value in our cars, our homes, antiques, and most of all we see value in ourselves. The problem is that a lot of us tend to allow other people to put a price tag on where our value stands. We allow friends, family, jobs, and accomplishments to dictate whether or not we are considered worthy in our life. The definition states that value is the worth of something. It does not say the worth of someone.

When you are buying a new build home they always tell you the price of the base model. The house if it didn’t have any upgrades. Where theres only a shower with no tub, carpet instead of tile, white walls with no back splash, basic counters instead of granite. However, when you add al the extras and upgrades that you like you have now increased the value/cost of your home. 

A lot of us feel like we are the base models of a new home. We feel like we don’t have anything worthy of being valued. So, what we do is, we use accomplishments, money, clothes, and status as things to upgrade ourselves and increase our worth. 

The hard lesson we learn at the end of our journey is that adding those things dont make us any different. It doesnt increase our worth or make us feel any more valued than we did In the beginning. The reason is because our values are internal. 

When you allow physical things to be where your value is placed you will forever be on an emotional rollercoaster because those things do not last forever, they cannot fulfill you emotionally, and you will feel empty If they are lost or taken away. 

The second definition of Value on Webster’s is a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life. 

It is saying that our values as people is based on who we are not what we have or what we can do. Our new job does not add to our value, making more money will not add to our value but who we are as we are accomplishing these things is where our value lays. Your personality, how you treat people, how you treat your self, and how you love are where your value lies. 

Understand that your value is there before your accomplishments and after. Its important to know that it doesn’t depreciate after failures or when things don’t go as planned. Your value is in the way you react to these failed plans, its in the way you treat yourself when you fall, and how you treat others. 

This is why its important to recognize what value is and how to build it within yourself before you start building and working on anything else. Your values should be a part of building your foundation and the building is something only you can do. No one else should build it for you. Parents, jobs, teachers and the like should not be in charge of determining your worth.  

When you allow others to do the building for you it can leave you feeling emotionally unstable and sometimes empty. They can build you up and leave out important things that are needed to function. Can you imagine the construction worker whose only job is to lay the concrete deciding that hes going to build your entire home? Imagine the safety hazards and death traps you’d be walking into. Now, imagine all the things that would be missing. You’d be walking into a home that cant protect you from the elements, a home that is more dangerous than it is safe, a home that would be missing all the integral parts that make it livable. This is what happens internally with you when you allow others to dictate your value.