My friend's response, "This is a very poignant question. For most of us that aren't sociopaths, psychopaths, or suffer from narcissistic borderline personality disorders, this lack of self-worth we have is affecting every facet of our lives. With very few exceptions, people are FAR harder on themselves than they are on others...
We are taught, from a young age, what right and wrong is. Unfortunately, the message is sometimes twisted from "what you DID is wrong (the action)" to "YOU are wrong (the person)". Sometimes, the message is twisted on purpose (to give the authority figure power and control), sometimes it is just badly conveyed, or misinterpreted by a young mind trying to figure things out.
In either case, as adults, we need to strive to help ourselves become at peace with ourselves. We need to neuter the inner critic that undermines our self-worth. Yes, we all want to help other people, and yes, we can, even if we, ourselves, are imperfect (we all are), but keep this analogy in mind when contemplating the worth of yourself:
When oxygen masks drop from the ceiling in an airplane, the instructions are to put your own mask on first, then help anyone else. There is a very good reason for doing it this way, because if you neglect your mask to help someone else and it doesn't work or you run out of time, YOU WILL BOTH DIE. Only when we, ourselves, are safe can we truly reach out and heal other people."
So, tonight, I put this out to every person I am blessed to know and whom I love dearly...
Please, be as kind, compassionate, understanding, patient and loving to YOURSELVES as you are to everyone else.
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