Empowering Others

Self worth is a powerful thing, when we have it.  It’s critical for people to evaluate themselves for themselves, rather than relying on other people’s ideas for their self image.  I was thinking about how we often empower other people by accepting their opinion of us.  This is really unfair to ourselves because frequently the person judging us has no idea of our background, experiences, and so forth. 

       What do I mean?  Well, this is the time of year when we do our infamous Review at work and so we lay ourselves open to a lot of evaluations.  Fair enough.  But beyond the work evaluation there is often a little, subtle something else.  It’s where we are in the pecking order of the corporate hierarchy that can be a sticking point.  It doesn’t matter how good a person’s work is, if you are at the bottom end of the totem pole your valuation is only so high.  There is something wrong about that; because we’ve always heard the motherhood statements where the company thanks Everyone for the hard work we are doing.  But it’s only words, the reality is quite different.

       And I can accept that.  Surprisingly, yes I can.  However, what I do not care for is how that pecking order spills over into other comments, however inadvertently made.  I was thinking about that this weekend and stopped myself short.  What my employers think of me at work is one thing, what they think, when I am outside of the workplace, is so much hooey.  You heard me, hooey.

       I will not allow whatever goes on in the workplace to affect my valuation of myself; nor should you allow it to do so.  I know what my worth is, my experiences, my education, my go-around-the-blocks and I value all of that very much.  I also think outside the workplace we are all equals.  We all have to pay the same price of groceries, we all have to go to the toilet, we all have to bath to stay clean.  Yep, I am very much a person who believes in equality. 

       I know I tend to reflect and chew over statements more than the regular person, but think about it sometime when you hear a comment that seems a bit of a zinger. What was that they said?  Hmmm.  No force or effect outside the office, go blow!