One thing I was forced to learn while growing up was setting principles for myself, taking responsibility for every mistake I make and that is because I grew up in the midst of people who didn't do that or saw any importance in having them. I'm still surprised with how well I grew to become who I am today with the kind of friends I had back then, they literally threw every little value they might have had away and didn't care at all.
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I would have said my dad did well in helping me have more self Values and principles but if I'm being truthful, I did it myself as he wasn't always there to stop me from selling my values away and I'm left alone to go through every challenge that threatens my values. It was hard, I won't lie but I can't say it has gotten easier now.
It was hard to build the Values I have and it keeps getting hard to maintain it.
But I think that makes it worth having, it gives me confidence and prepares me for what's coming no matter how unending it may seem. I've been tempted a good number of times to let down my self values and have an easy way out but somehow, here I am feeling prouder of myself that I didn't because I realized that it was only going to be a brief pleasure and the regret will live on.
My values may not be important to those around me or who I meet but they help me to a great extent in the way I relate with people and how people see or talk about me when I'm not around. Let's accept it, what people say about us does matter, we just make sure not to let it limit ourselves and what we can do. And that is why I think having great values and struggling to maintain it always will go a long way in making people talk rightly about you.
The one time I almost lost the essence of maintaining my values as a lady was when I found myself in the midst of ladies that I was sure didn't know much about values and why they should have some. They made life seem less complex to live in, everything came in easy for them and I got curious and wanted to be like them. What I realized later was that they were giving their values in exchange for the easy life.
I remember a time I was tempted to lie so I could get some amount of money from a friend, my girlfriend kept encouraging to do it that there's nothing wrong in it and I was like "How is there no wrong in lying?" and she would always say "It is a lie when the person you lie to finds out about the truth" π As funny as it sounded, I knew I was being misled and I know how guilty I can feel if I should go ahead with it so I tried my best to overcome it.
I've been around people who uses their body to get what they want, it didn't seem as anything to them but I really don't see how all that could make sense for them. I'll say their reckless living also contributed to my zeal to stay true to myself and continue to maintain the values I've built from childhood.
Good things don't come easily, we work for them and same goes with our values.
Regardless of the temptations, stay true to yourself and keep maintaining those values, it pays more.
