You spend your whole life being yourself.
You are filled with your own thoughts, feel your own pain, hear your own voice, revel in your own achievements and see your own face in the mirror day after day after day.
You are your own constant companion, your own ultimate assumption.
Sounds obvious, right?
Well that is the point. It is obvious, so terribly frickin’ obvious that we don’t think about it.
It is therefore no surprise that we underestimate our own value. We accept ourselves without question or objection, and fail to appreciate what we think, believe and feel.
We take ourselves for granted.
You take yourself for granted.
When first taking the plunge into my self-reflection journey, I was reminded that we all take ourselves for granted almost all of the time.
I also realised that taking ourselves for granted is dangerous for three key reasons.
- You lose perspective. It is not that you don’t think you can change. No, it is even deeper than that. You don’t even ask the question about whether or not you should change. You go on doing the same things day after day and never stop to think about or challenge what you are doing or why you are doing it.
- You lose empathy. You don’t think about the effect you have on others. You don’t put yourself in the shoes of others to try to appreciate what they might be thinking, how they might be feeling and how you fit into the picture.
- You lose opportunity. This is really a combination of the 2 points above. When you lose perspective and empathy, your ability to notice need in yourself and others is significantly diminished. This in turn means you are less likely to spot an opportunity to meet that need through self improvement, forming or strengthening a relationship or new business idea, for instance.
Flipping this around into a positive …
Not taking yourself for granted will enable you to gain perspective, to untap the power of empathy, to be open to improvement and be better able to assist and serve others.
This doesn’t happen by itself though, nor is it immediate.
You must be proactive and genuinely curious.
Being curious is a very powerful mindset for almost everything, not least of which is getting to know yourself.
Being curious is 1 of my 6 tips for self-reflection success.
We are always told we shouldn’t take others and the things we have for granted.
Isn’t it about time you gave yourself the respect you deserve?
Go ahead, do yourself a favour and stop taking yourself for granted.
Were you surprised to find you have been taking yourself for granted? If so, what did you discover when you treated yourself as valuable and applied genuine curiosity?