This week's Ladies Of Hive Community #84 question reminds me of my experience at a former workplace which I will talk about in this post. I appreciate @successchar for the invitation though I struggled some days on how to answer this question without sounding bitter or funny. I invite @florenceboens to participate.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, self worth is "a sense of one's own value as a human being". I believe this means the feeling that you are a good person who deserves to be treated with respect. Without going into any philosophical debate, we believe we are all good in certain ways and should be valued.
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I believe every human being is valuable and it's up to each one to determine what that value is or should be, which is obvious from the way we treat/take care of ourselves.
I have always held myself in high esteem and live by the rule that it's 'how' I value myself that others will value me too by their attitude and rewards, if any. If I bring myself low or drag myself in the mud, others will see this (no matter how I try to hide it) and probably drag me through the mud too.
And because I value myself, I go to extra lengths to prove people wrong when they try to value me less. At my former workplace, after I was employed, about two months later a male colleague was employed. I would go to extra lengths and work extra hours but I noticed the managing partner (a female) always gave preference to my male colleague rather than me. This went further even to the salaries we were paid.
When I discovered this, I questioned her about it. She had nothing to say other than to apologize and give me the excuse that she assumed my colleague was hired before me and that's the reason she gave him preference.
I felt I was not valued as I would like and my worth was not seen because the preference for my male colleague continued. I quit the job among other issues and moved to a better workplace where I am valued, my worth seen and appreciated to date.
Rewards do not have to be monetary but appreciation of a person is everything! This can come in forms of respect, commendation, gratitude etc. I'd often wondered whether it was my fault but I have come to realise that appreciating the value of others is very important regardless of the role we play in any environment. I have learned never to devalue another person. Many have fallen into a depressed state because others have failed to see their value.
It's easy not to expect anything in return if the service is done in love because of the joy attached to such altruistic acts. This is the reason I said at the beginning that we all believe we are good at some point.
Some people derive joy in putting others down for whatever reason but it goes to show that they don't value themselves, they don't know their self-worth and believe everyone else is like them.
When you see and know your self-worth, you will easily recognise it in others and value people more.
Thank you for visiting my blog.