Self-Worth

“I don’t care what other people think about me” is something that I’ve said more times that I can remember. But is it true? I like to think it is. Then I look back at all of the actions that I’ve taken over the years and I wonder how much of that was for me and how much of it was for other people to see how great I am. My ego is a powerful actor in my life.

 Self-worth is a tricky thing to understand. You may think that you don’t care what people say about you, but is it really true? Often times, people tend to find their self-worth in things outside of themselves. It can be outsourced to other people including our bosses whose praises we seek, our subordinates where we love to hear them express their gratitude towards us, and in our romantic relationships where we seek love’s affirmations in the physical and emotional realm.

We also look to social media to find out how “worthy” we are by looking at the reactions we get to what we said or posted online. We write blogs in the hope of reaching people and post them online so others can benefit from our knowledge while watching the number of how many people we have reached. We earn accolades and awards and wear a mask when telling people how humbled we are, when in fact we did things to glorify ourselves. Our pride is a powerful motivator.

Working hard and pursuing the things listed above is not inherently bad. In fact, a lot of good has come out of people’s ambitions whether it was for the benefit of others or themselves. The questions I’ll leave you to answer are these. Are you outsourcing your self-worth so others can see how great you are while wearing your mask of humility? Do you see a problem with deriving your self-worth from what other people think about how you perform?

I would ask you to heed Paul’s words in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

~Rey