R-E-S-P-E-C-T….
What does that spell? Respect!
Ladies and gents, please love and respect one another always! I can’t stress this importance enough. To respect one another is to love one another, to care for one another, to support one another, and everything positive that comes with the value and acknowledgement of respect.
I learned of some very saddening news the other day and it chewed away at my heart.
I felt disgusted, angered, sadden, hurt, and above all confused. It was so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that some people allow others to treat them as if they are trash. To treat them as if they are invaluable, unworthy, insignificant, or less than.
Who treats people this way?!? It’s disgusting and outright wrong. No one is better than anyone. It doesn’t matter if you were born with a silver spoon or with a rusty old blanket, you are not better than anybody. The only person we can be better than is the person we were the day before, 20 minutes after we woke up this morning, and even the person we were 2 seconds ago. But by no other means does choosing to be a better version of ourselves make us better than anyone else.
I encourage you all to acknowledge respect, more importantly to acknowledge and respect those who embody self-respect.
The old saying goes “if you want respect you have to earn it” or “to get respect you have to give respect”. There is truth to this in a lot of aspects, but for the most part I believe we should all love and respect one another regardless of how they treat us or who they are.
It’s called being the bigger person. The more mature one. Taking the high road.
And as I like to put it ever so often, knowing and showing that you know right from wrong.
Don’t sink down to the low levels of those who refuse to respect others. Those are the people who think they are better than us. The people who think they can say and treat us any way they want. Because either they don’t know right from wrong, or they do and they just simply choose to be that way.
Instead rise above their ignorance and show them the example of what it means to know your worth. Show them what it means to love and accept and respect yourself. Those who do this are the ones who value and appreciate others. Who know right from wrong and take that level of respect and dignity everywhere they go.
Those are the people who prosper in life, who are successful, and have (or will have) everything they desire in life.
If you don’t like the way someone treats you, don’t let them treat you that way. Take ownership of your voice and VOICE (in an appropriate and respectful manner) your concerns. Make clear what you will and will not allow in a relationship. This doesn’t have to be a romantic one either, it can be a friendship or a relationship you have with your siblings or other family members. Let them know what gestures, language, and behaviors you will and will not tolerate.
Be clear about the things that make you feel valued and appreciated, as well as the things that make you feel worthless and uncomfortable.
If we don’t set standards for ourselves, standards to live by and hold others to, then we are inviting people to treat us the best way they see fit. And sadly it’s not always with the best intentions at heart.
That’s not fair and you deserve better. We all deserve better.
If you don’t like the dynamic of your current situation, let it be known. There is no harm is telling someone that you don’t like the fact that they are always in a bad mood whenever you are around, or that they always lash out on you when they are upset. The only harm that can come from this is choosing to remain silent.
When we choose to remain silent we are giving silent approval for the things that are happening in our life. This can be anywhere from allowing unhealthy relationships to unfold, to staying at a job that makes you extremely unhappy. Or even making yourself suffer through a dinner evening surrounded by people who do not respect and value you.
When we remain silent about all the negative things that are happening to us we are silently approving the way people treat us, talk to us, the level of respect they show towards us, and honestly, we are allowing them to dictate how we feel about ourselves.
No one, absolutely no one can tell us how we really feel inside. The way we engage with the world, the way people treat us, how we feel about others and the way we think they feel about us, are all a reflection of how we feel about ourselves.
If that is just constant negativity, then we will always have negative perceptions and feelings about ourselves. If it’s constant positivity, then we will always have positive perceptions and feelings about ourselves.
Emotions and language are one and the same with our thoughts and emotions. They fit so perfectly together with one another so we have to take extra care in how we allow others to treat us.
When we allow ourselves to suffer through such things we are giving silent approval to be treated and to live our lives a certain way. People will only treat us the way we allow them to.
A way that only brings about unhappiness.
And that’s no way to live.
Respect begins and ends with the respect that you have for yourself. I preach this all the time, love and accept yourself for who you are. It’s so important to know your worth, to see your value, and to be inspired your potential. When you embrace and accept these things about you others will take notice and follow suit.
I promise you. Men and women alike want to be surrounded by people who know who they are, who have standards, and have morals that they live by. And it’s important to instill such a loving and positive mindset in yourself that way you can pass it along to the younger generations.
They need positive examples in their life to model after. They need to see that strength and courage, all that hidden potential, the love and respect we have for ourselves and others, in order to have the motivation to always strive to be better versions of themselves, and to be an active participate in making this world a better place.
Love will always prosper, but without respect it will be harder to acknowledge and accept the love we should have for one another.
Karma is real people, and some of ya’ll need to wake up and realize that.
What goes around comes around, so please make sure it’s nothing but love and positivity.
I’m doing my part to make this world a better place, to protect future generations from ignorance, to encourage people to be open-minded about the world they live in, and above all to heal this world with LOVE.
So, do yours.
-Xo
Kimora