“Don’t measure your worth by someone else’s opinion of you.” This is something I’m finding myself saying more and more. And man, do I mean it.
A colleague once said in a meeting, “someone else’s opinion of you is none of your business,” which spoke volumes to me, and it’s so true. Yet, here we are, measuring our self-worth in others’ eyes. Where is that going to get us? Nowhere fast. When we start to let other people’s opinions get into our heads, we doubt our best selves, for what?
The worst part is, some of these opinions come from the people who love us most and best and want the best for us. But sometimes they state their opinions in a way that is not supportive, and sometimes they’re outright mean. I don’t think it’s always malicious, but I do believe that we, as a society, put too much stock into what others think about us.
So, let’s add to one another’s cups. Tell someone what a great job they’re doing at work or in their personal life. Maybe a spouse stepped up to cut the lawn. Instead of saying, “you missed a spot by the road,” try, “wow, it looks great!” When someone is stressed about a big deadline coming up, you say, “Hey, is there anything I can do to ease the burden? I know you’re going to rock this project.”
Because if we keep going around, measuring our worth in other people’s opinions we will forever be measuring and we will never see our accomplishments and our strengths. We will always be playing catch up. Yes, it’s great to have goals and aspirations but don’t let the perfect be the enemy of good. If we are continually measuring, we will miss everything around us.
