self-respect

The concept of self-respect is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and the correct spelling to pronounce "respect" correctly includes the double R. However, most articles on the Internet display it with just one.

Car- is a prefix that means "itself" or "of himself". It can be attached to verbs or nouns. The I respect, meanwhile, is associated with consideration, the delicacy, the obedience wave veneration.

The idea of self-respect, therefore, it is linked to respect for oneself. Just as respecting others involves issues such as not attacking their ideas or not cause harm, self-respect means applying those same precepts internally so as not to hurt or harm oneself.

Self-respect is based on the defense and promotion of independence and the autonomy. Each individual must respect himself and be true to his thoughts and feelings in order to achieve fulfillment: when someone tries to conform to others or only follows orders, they cannot be happy.

It is important to mention that self-respect is related to self-esteem, although both notions allude to different things. Self-esteem is the result of an evaluation of one's own actions and the achievements obtained. Therefore, it is the consequence of a value judgment. Self-respect, on the other hand, implies acceptance without evaluation.

It can be said that self-respect is the approval wave tolerance of oneself, regardless of mistakes and limitations. It does not depend on success or failure, unlike what usually happens with self-esteem.

From all that has been said, we can understand that self-respect implies putting our own needs to those of others. This does not mean to stop loving our friends and family, nor to love them less than they deserve; On the contrary, we must start from a solid and firm structure to offer them everything they need, everything we want to give them.

Only once we achieve stability in respect for our own needs can we go out into the outside world to establish new relationships. Otherwise, we allow your freedoms drown ours. People who have great difficulty saying no when asked for a favor exhibit a lack of self-respect. In the same way that prioritizing our needs does not mean loving a friend less, knowing how to set limits and demanding that they respect our time does not mean being rude or inconsiderate.

Although these two situations are clear examples of self-respect, at least one positive aspect can be rescued from them: the desire to be good people. However, there is a much darker area, both for those who do not respect themselves and for those around them, which begins when the values and principles are corrupted. At first glance, it may seem that the injured parties are the ones who receive the actions of the person who has become immoral, but the first victim is she since she stops being respected and therefore remains completely unprotected.

Some key differences between self-esteem and self-respect are mentioned above. Although they are different concepts, it should be noted that it is often difficult to determine which of these problems is acting more strongly on the individual, since they are complementary. For example, low self-esteem leads us to value ourselves very little, to give ourselves less importance than others; this is also disrespecting us, or it can lead to it.

In general, people with low self-esteem also lack self-confidence, and this can lead them to neglect their self-respect when making an important decision.