Respect Yoself!

I wish people would treat each other better. I really do.

I mean, I’m not trying to say I’m completely stain free in the whole Golden Rule category, but I try my best to treat others well. It kills me when I see someone else being mistreated, especially my friends and family. But, hey, the way people look at you, the way they treat you? It all boils down to how you treat yourself.

Surround yourself with people that are going to support and love you. Find people with traits you want to emulate. Don’t hang around people you don’t like or who treat you badly just because you feel like you have to. Being alone and happy is better than being around others and miserable. Trust me, I see it all the time. I’ve been there.

Awhile back, I went through a rough patch with my friends. Every weekend they went out in a group or just hung out at someone’s house. They made plans at lunch around my sister and me, but we were the only two never invited. They still sat by us, but they stopped talking to us. We felt like crap. Why didn’t they want to be around us? Did we do something wrong? Did they even want to be friends anymore?

They were the only friends we had, so we were lonely. Everything they said made me sad and pissed at the same time. They didn’t even seem to realize anything was wrong. So we left.

Rather than stick around and continue being treated like crap, we got some distance and it stayed just the two of us for a while. Things mellowed out and we patched stuff up, but I don’t think things would have been fixed had we just stuck around and let things continue on how they were.

If things aren’t going so good in your neighborhood, find a way to fix it. Don’t just sit there and be miserable, you deserve better than that. Whether it be walking away like my sister and I did or sitting down and hashing things out, you should be able to find a way to make your circumstances better. Respect yourself and be truthful to that. You’ll end up okay.

~Sara