I can miss you like crazy but I'll never hit you up
it's called self respect
I’m a 27 y/o female & I didn’t know what self respect was until six months ago.
If you have children, please tell them about how important it is to respect and love yourself FIRST.
Teach them to love themselves before they love anyone else.
Teach them that being selfish is not always a bad thing, and explain the difference.
Teach them what boundaries are.
Teach them what manipulation means.
Teach them how words mean nothing and to only believe actions.
Teach them how to love themselves so they don’t look for love in another person.
Teach them that sometimes they will have to walk away from a person that they love, because that person isn’t good for them.
Teach them how to be steadfast throughout all of these and encourage them.
Let them know that they are complete and whole on their own, and how they do not need another human being to complete them, or to fill in parts that they may think are missing.
And most of all, tell yourself all of this too, because after all — your children are a reflection of you.
When you love yourself, you are a mirror to help others love themselves.
This is a picture of my niece and I walking into a restaurant a couple of years ago.
My mom is an avid picture taker, so she always happens to capture moments in time that would otherwise be fleeting and soon forgotten. I used to hate her always taking my picture, but over the years I'm so thankful that she did because I look at those moments in time and can see certain things - important things. And one thing I started to notice is that my niece is always looking up to me. Obviously, there's a height difference (lol) because she's a child... but it makes sense. She's always looking up to me, my mom, my sister (who is my nieces mom). I am responsible for giving my niece someone good to look up to. She saved my life, she made me realize that my purpose here on Earth is so much more than figuring out what I'm going to do as a career, or where l'll live or what kind of cars I'll drive. One of the biggest reasons l'm here is for her, to teach her and give her the things that weren't given to me.
Her future self will be one of the most amazing people that I will ever meet.
Watching her grow is the biggest blessing God has ever given to me.
If I was taught how to love myself when I was a child, my life would have been COMPLETELY different. My early 20’s would have been filled with healthy relationships and I wouldn’t have hated myself. I wouldn’t have the addictions that I have now, I wouldn’t have 99% of the trauma that I have now, I would be a healthier person overall. But I wasn’t taught these things, and in a fucked up kind of way, I’m GLAD I was never taught these things. Because I will make damn sure that my niece and my future children will NEVER question their worth. They will never feel how horrible I had to feel. They will always know how precious they are and how they are worthy of all good things.
