It's important to grow up with self respect. It's also important to grow up respecting others. There's a balance to be had between self respect and respect for others.
Like many women, I grew up stepping aside often to let others get their way. Women have often had to step aside and put their needs/desires aside to allow others to succeed, achieve, and get what they want. Sadly that was an expectation since women were not thought of as important or valuable as others by many.
That second-class citizen attitude and action was commonplace for women in the past. The situation still holds today for many. As a teacher, I often pointed out the fact that when a boy spoke, everyone listened, but when a girl spoke, all the boys often started talking too. This was not purposeful, but a learned behavior instead.
I believe that it's more difficult for those who didn't grow up with a lot of respect to gain self respect. This situation is true of anyone who wasn't able to live in ways true to themselves in respectful ways. It's challenging to respect yourself when others don't show you respect.
It's much easier to respect people when you know those people well, and some people take a lot of time to know. This is especially true for people who fall far from the mean of life--if people have unique qualities, interests, and needs, it can be more challenging to know and understand them with depth, but it's important to make the time to do that.
Setting clear and positive boundaries with others helps us to preserve and develop self respect and it can also help us to respect one another. Sometimes you need the space that boundaries provide to really know someone and respect someone.
I want to think more about self respect and the balance between respect for self and respect for others in the days ahead. It's an important topic to consider. Onward.
