Well, if I asked you if you would want respect in your relationships, I bet you’d say “of course, that’s a given!“. In fact, respect is something we all want from others, regardless of what actually happens in our most important relationship: that one with ourselves. If we don’t put respect in there, there are little chances that we can lay the foundations for being respected by others, too. Sure enough, it turns out that the relationships we have with others are just a mere reflection of that one with ourselves. At some extent, others treat us the very same way we treat ourselves.
However, even if we realise at some point, that there is something to tweak in the way we treat ourselves, we should never feel stuck as we can start changing right now.
So, what details should we pay attention to?
Accepting & expressing ourselves
Do you feel some resistance to expressing yourself which causes you to often refrain from manifesting your personality, feelings, ideas, opinions? As long as you keep on being respectful to others it’s fine to speak out.
Respect and value your uniqueness and find the courage to stand up for yourself, speak up your truth, be consistent with your own values and vision. Appreciate what makes you unique and different from others, not in a vain or egotistical way, but as a sign of true love and respect for yourself.
This way you open yourself up to be loved and respected by others too.
Respecting yourself is having the courage to completely accept and love yourself as you are, faults included, and standing up for yourself.
Allowing space & giving time to our desires and needs
Don’t compromise your desires. If you fancy something, go for it. Every time you compromise on something you really want, you give yourself the message that you are not worth it, you don’t deserve it or there’s something wrong about it. How would you react to a friend who systematically takes stuff you really want away from you? Probably you wouldn’t hang around with him any longer, right? So why doing it to yourself?
I am not just talking about money, of course we all would want a Ferrari or a yacht to wander around! There’s so much more you can do, however…In your daily routine do you feel a little tired and fancy resting for a while? Do you want some time for yourself? Do you want go for a walk, a cinema, elsewhere? It looks silly to mention all this stuff, but a lot of people don’t allow themselves the small (aka big) pleasures life offers. On the other hand, I don’t state it is easy either, as we all have hectic lives, but remember that you always have the choice between telling yourself that you can’t (period) or start trying to find a way to go for what you want. Because if there is a will, there should be a way. It may not be an easy choice, but it is worth giving it a try. In the end, you are the master and the choice is yours
Acknowledging all your achievements, no matter how great or small they are
Don’t underestimate what you have done so far, look at what you’ve achieved and how far you’ve come. Be proud of it.
Setting up your own boundaries, being positively assertive
Being a nice person is undoubtedly one of the most amazing attitude one can have in life. However, as the saying goes if you keep saying yes to everybody even when you don’t feel like, you will make all them happy, but yourself! It is simply neither possible nor human to be always on the top of the word, available to supply others with what they need.
Setting up your own boundaries means that you should recognise and accept your own limits and disconnect your sense of self-worth from other’s opinions and feedbacks. They will be still important to you, but they won’t be able to affect or knock you down so much. Respecting yourself is considering yourself like your first customers in life as, as long as you don’t put the oxygen mask on your mouth first, you wouldn’t be able to do anything for anybody else.
Of course it will happen that people will throw their own stuff on you but you’re not obliged to take it on board! This is one of those gifts we should leave to the owner. So, when someone gets in the way, trying to pull you down you will be able to see them for what they are and to understand that people which are very critical of others are usually very insecure themselves and, that way, they’re just deflecting away from their own self-doubts and weaknesses.
When you truly respect yourself you build such a powerful self-esteem that outside criticisms or negativities will not affect you in the way they used to
Looking after yourself & your own health
Your body is your temple, it has been given to you for you to use it all your life. It is like your bespoke car that takes you around all the time. So, why not to look after it properly? It turns out that most people spend more time learning how to work their phones than looking after their bodies and health. Why is that?
Honour your body, nourish it properly and adequately with good food and beverages, pamper it, be grateful to have it and set your intention to keep it as healthy as you can with a helpful lifestyle. It will thank you by giving you back vibrant and good energy and health.
Choosing to responding rather than reacting to life
This is so important and huge that I am going to cover it in another post as I wouldn’t make this one as long as an Odyssey
So, there we are! what do you think about respect in your current relationships? Are you happy with that?
Hope you enjoyed this reading. Feel free to share it with anybody who can take advantage of it and leave your own comments down below.
Help us spread Happiness & Health!
Lots of love, Roberta
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