Kindness makes the world go round, well, maybe with some help from some other things. Kindness is a virtue that surely cannot be overrated in the world today. The rate of pain and suffering all around the world today attest to the fact that the world could certainly do with a bit more kindness, love and respect all round. Unfortunately for us, you can hardly give something you do not have, and so many people have little respect for themselves.
When people find it hard to be kind to themselves, it is often because they have hardly had any kindness shown them, and they in turn cannot give any. Treating yourself with some kindness and respect is the equivalent of recharging yourself and enabling you to continue giving out good vibes to everyone around you. You deserve respect, even more than you give to others, and no one deserves your respect more than your ‘self’.
You need to forgive yourself a bit easier and let go of past hurts and disappointments you might have with yourself. On the days when everything seems to be falling apart all around you, and you can’t seem to catch a break or do anything right, you need to treat yourself to an extra dose of kindness and respect. No one has the right to put you down, you can only hand them this right by putting yourself down to other people. If you want other people to respect you and be kind to you, then you have to go the first step by giving yourself a healthy dose of self-respect.
Sometimes, we make the mistake of categorizing some healthy self-respect as PRIDE. But these two things are worlds apart, while pride shows an individual who has very little respect for themselves, self-respect is the tool which drives respect for others. When you have the presence of mind that tells you that you deserve the best and everything good in life, then you will internalize this fact and never settle for less; even from yourself.
Most victims of abuse are, more often than not, sufferers of this fate because their abuser or someone in their past has made them believe they do not deserve the common decency of human kindness and respect. How much worse is it then, when your abuser is none other than YOU.
Regardless of how bad you feel about yourself, or how hard you seem to have fallen, never lose respect for yourself or believe that someone else somewhere is so much better than you. In respecting self and being lenient and kind to you, you find healing and acceptance for your faults and you realize you deserve a chance just like everyone else; a chance not to be battered or stigmatized.
If today you do not feel like the best version of yourself, just remember, even this less than perfect version of you deserves all the kindness and respect you have. How else can we learn to be kind to other people? Or to respect their beliefs and lifestyle? When you fail to be kind to yourself, you make the world a lot less hospitable.
So, never forget, you deserve all the respect and kindness you’ve got inside of you.
