Self Worth is how much you are worth to yourself. Too many people mistake self worth for your worth to the market, economy, government, other people, etc. But that’s not self worth, that’s Market Worth, or Economic Worth, or how much Bob or Alice think you’re worth. Self worth is how much you think you’re worth, so you are in control.

You don’t have to be perfect to have self worth, unless you choose to make it a requirement, in which case you should realize you’ve chosen to make it impossible to have self worth. Remember, you are your worst critic, and no-one sees as many flaws as you do, so realize you have a skewed view of your imperfections.

If you decide to value yourself based on how much wealth you have, then you have chosen to tie your self worth to money. It doesn’t have to be, you could instead measure it based on how popular or powerful you are. Or you could free yourself from societal or external standards, and say that you have self worth because you give yourself self worth. You are valuable because you say so. Then, with a secure internal mindset, you can go out into the world and try to get external value like Market Worth or Popularity Worth if you want.

Believe you can have what you want. This idea of “deserve” only exists within certain contexts: at home, you only deserve ice cream if you finish your vegetables; working in America, you deserve one because you can pay for it it; at a business, because you have connections; etc. etc.. Getting something has two components: believing you have the self worth to have it, and an opportunity to have it. Opportunity is partly in your control, but the belief in your self worth is definitely in your control. You are worthy of happiness, love, friends, success, if you say so. Whether you get it is separate–if you don’t get it, it doesn’t mean you aren’t worthy of it.

Unbalanced or Lack of Self Worth can lead to depression or over compensating, or denial and delusion, so take care of your self worth!

When you’re comparing yourself with others, be kind and use context: if you’ve been playing violin for 2 years, don’t compare yourself to a professional violinist who has had a 40 year career. Make sure your comparisons make sense, or else you’re setting yourself up for depression.

More resources that can help:

Overcome Illogical Thoughts of Insecure People

Understand Judgments

Formally expressed, Self Worth is “Who am I to myself right now in this reality?” (Identity and Reality explained in my: Life Education Curriculum).

Misc. Thoughts

Why do I always feel ashamed of who I am? While I was religious, they taught me to be ashamed, that’s why!

The market is imperfect. If it was perfect, then we can say that the rich are successful and the poor are unsuccessful, and justly so. But just because someone is poor does not mean they are unsuccessful or not hard working–they could just be unlucky. Don’t think the system’s evaluation system is reliable, or accurate even.

A few days ago I talked to a friend and that friend told me I’m normal: Yay! and I’ve been feeling more and more normal ever since I was told that. See, I used to always think I was different, but I never asked around to find out from other people whether they thought I was different or normal. If you ask around and they do think you’re different, embrace it I say, but if it’s detrimental than perhaps move to a different place: a fish is normally in water, not normally in the sky, so if you’re a fish in the sky, find water.

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