Self-Worth.

[greenstorm]

I'm not sure how to know if I'm worth something. Some people say this, some people say that -- I can't gauge it on what a person says, not a single person certainly (codependency of some sort?) and not a group of people. It's all a perspective thing, and I want an absolute answer. Poor me. ;P

Comments

[khamura.livejournal.com]

Oh, God. Those haunt me, too: it's like that wish to go and sneak a peek behind the curtain and see how the magician does his tricks. I don't think you can get one -- who's got absolute knowledge, after all? --, so the closest I've come to it is gathering together as many perspectives as I could and look for congruencies. And then, usually, I decided that they were all wrong, and assert my own opinion, because I need to be Right. :P

As far as I can tell...

[jointhesaga.livejournal.com]

No one can tell you you're worth something except yourself. Anyone else is selling something - usually themselves, in order to be worth something to you.

There's no way to gauge it. No object worth-o-meter to say you've made a positive impact on X number of people and therefore you've got value. That sense of worth has to come from inside you, in my opinion. You look inside, consider what you do, where you've been, why you do what you do, and how you feel about yourself.

You can probably accept that you've certainly got worth in the ripples you make in the lives of others - whether it's through these livejournal entries and the responses they yield or through your hobbies (those rodents certainly depend on you).

But I wouldn't rely on others to give you that sense of worth.

[darthmaus.livejournal.com]

Funny, I've been wrestling with the same thing lately (job hunting, as I'm sure you know, will do that to you :( ). We should have tea and philosophize.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

We should.

[echo2oak.livejournal.com]

Worth is a sort of two edged sword, I think, because it is not just a matter of how others see me but also how I see myself. It's a combination of individual and community perception.

A person with great self worth might still feel isolated if the community doesn't reflect that back. On the other hand, if the community finds the person worthwhile, but the individual does not, then the person will still feel isolated.

Communities are attracted to the charismatic because they apparently have good self worth, but the person still may crave the attention community offers, so the relationship strengthens with each positive encounter.

On the other hand, if a person apparently has a strong sense of worth, works for the community, and still receives no recognition, the person might become discouraged and their self worth lessens within their own eyes.

I guess what I'm driving at is that I have been often mistaken for someone of great self worth, yet I need a sense of community, of belonging, and when I've asked for that from my community, my apparent worth seems to falter.