We often hear and use the word dignity in our daily lives. In young age, elders taught us that it is something we should have. Dignity falls in the category of those abstract words we don’t truly understand the real meaning of, and make our own definition based on how people throw it around.
Despite our own definitions, one thing we all know that dignity is a crucial part of our self-image. And we sometimes do things that take it away from us. To some extent, the reason behind this is that we don’t understand the true meaning of dignity and another reason is we have no idea about how complex it can be. We need to grasp the true meaning of dignity to attain and maintain it properly.
True Meaning of Dignity:
Authentically, the actual concept of dignity is much wider than it looks like and how others perceived it. It is a convoluted network of positivity that develops inside you. You should be attentive of it every single day. Dignity needs:
- Self-esteem
- Self-worth
- Self-care
- Self-confidence
- Self-love
- Self-appreciation
Consider that all of the above-mentioned elements of dignity start with a common word – “self”. This is because dignity can develop within ourselves only. No matter how much love and respect others give, it can never be enough for a solid base for dignity. Therefore only by understanding the true meaning of all these elements, we can fathom the real meaning of dignity.
How you can develop your sense of dignity?
Understanding the true meaning of dignity and developing a healthy sense of it into ourselves is a complex process that requires time and patience. Of course, it is a complicated process but it can be done and in a healthy way. If you want to be successful, it is recommended that you take time for each element of dignity one by one.
1 Self-esteem: Our self-esteem is formed from the feelings, attitudes, opinions we hold for our own self. Oftentimes it is considered as our inner voice that tells us that ‘I am not good enough’.
You can only improve your self-esteem by silencing your inner voice that demotivates you and finds grounds to change its logic. Even one change is enough to redefine your opinions about yourself.
2 Self-worth: Self-worth is closely associated with self-esteem. It is a measure of how much we value ourselves. It involves understanding why we matter and what makes us special or apart from the crowd. We tend to define our self-worth in terms of our social status, financial status, career or if we are in a romantic relationship with someone.
One way to determine your self-worth is by finding out what makes you matter if you eliminate all the outside influences. Appreciate yourself who you are and align every aspect of your life with your moral values.
3 Self-Care: Caring about your own health and well-being is self-care. It requires us to do something. For physical self-care, we need to exercise, take enough sleep, eating healthy etc.
For emotional and mental self-care, you can practice meditation, show kindness or simply memorizing great things in our life.
4 Self-Confidence: It is the mentality that if we set our hearts and minds to something, then we will achieve it.It doesn’t mean that you will be successful at everything you do, but understanding that it will be okay for you.It needs motivation, positivity and an inner desire to move forward. It can be achieved by developing a ‘can do’ attitude, accepting and learning from your failures and keep moving forward.
5 Self-Love: As the name suggests, self-love is all about loving yourself as much as you love someone else.You must eradicate the thinking that you are not worthy of anyone’s love and its’ okay if someone hurt you. It requires us to prioritize our well-being sometimes, whether it’s physically, mentally or emotionally.
6 Self-Appreciation: When someone goes out of their way to do something for us, we show them our appreciation. It could be as simple as a ‘thank you’ or as big as buying them a memorable gift to show our gratitude towards them. It’s just not others we should show appreciation to, but also we should show it to ourselves. When we do something that drives us forward or is successful take a moment to show your gratitude to yourself.
You cannot develop dignity overnight, it is an ongoing process. Many times you will feel low and not good enough, but instead of dwelling into your miseries you need to take a good look at the elements of dignity and strive hard for them.
