Receiving respect from others is important because it helps us to feel safe and to express ourselves. Being respected by important people in our lives growing up teaches us how to be respectful toward others. Respect means that you accept somebody for who they are, even when they’re different from you or you don’t agree with them. Moreover, respect in your relationships builds feelings of trust, safety, and wellbeing. Additionally, respect doesn’t have to come naturally – it is something you learn.
What is respect
Respect is a positive way of treating or thinking of someone. It involves recognising their value and importance as human beings and treating them accordingly.
Being respectful of other people is an important value. Showing respect means demonstrating a concern for people you interact with and treating them as equal. You probably show respect in several ways on a daily basis, for instance, when you:
- Listen to others when they’re speaking
- Play fair
- Use manners when you address people
- Wait your turn
- Give someone a compliment
- Tidy up after yourself
- Not judging others
- Being pleasant and accepting
How can we show respect to others?
- By treating others how you would like to be treated
- By thinking about the feelings of others
- By celebrating similarities between people
- By being aware of the talents and qualities other people possess
- By listening to the thoughts and feelings of others
- By celebrating differences between people
- By being proud of the achievements of others
Respect towards yourself
Respect plays an important role in our self-concept. It is a crucial thing when we are trying to build our self-esteem and confidence. Furthermore, it is very important that you show respect to yourself s much as you are respecting other people.
If you are respecting others but not towards yourself, you are giving yourself a very unhealthy message of “I don’t deserve to be respected”. When you are putting yourself second and other people on the pedestal, subconsciously you are believing that you are not as important and valuable as other people.
Is that self-respect? – The answer is no!
Work on self-respect
The easiest way to show yourself respect is to start treating yourself as you were your own best friend. Before you say something about yourself, ask yourself a question: “Is that how I would talk about my best friend?” Or before you make a decision to please someone, and to put their needs before yours, ask yourself: “What do I really want?”, “What is good for me?”
However, by asking yourself those simple questions you are teaching yourself that you are important and that your opinion matters. When you are checking in with yourself you are learning to be more considerate of yourself. You are starting to accept yourself and your needs. In addition, by becoming your own needs advocate, you are showing yourself that you are important and that you matter.
Conclusion
Showing others respect is an important aspect of being a human. However, we can’t forget to show respect to ourselves. You are important and lovable! You deserve to be respected! So, stop criticizing yourself, stop being so mean to yourself, stop treating yourself like you were your own enemy, stop putting other people on the pedestal.
Start being more considerate of yourself, keep checking in with yourself, become aware of your needs and desires. Allow yourself to be more assertive, allow yourself to put boundaries up when needed. Accept yourself for who you are. You are amazing!