The One Thing You'll Never Be Able To Change

I believe that knowing your own worth changes absolutely everything in your life.

You don't need to find your self worth. You were born with it. It's always there, and it never changes, no matter what. — You don’t need to find your self worth. You were born with it. It’s always there, and it never changes, no matter what.

I’m one of those drivers who talks to other drivers. And the things I say are not usually very nice.

“Nice signal, buddy!”

“Choose a lane!”

“Oh my gosh, the speed limit is 35, not 20!”

I admit that I’ve sped past some oblivious driver, and looked over as I passed them to glower and see who needed to go back to driver’s ed.

I admit that this is not nice. And generally, I consider myself a very nice person.

But there’s a problem with this, and it’s the same problem that comes up all day long, every single day of our lives, with every interaction we ever have.

We are constantly judging our own worth. Whether we realize it or not, almost every moment of every day, we are asking, “Am I of worth?”

We are constantly judging our own worth. Whether we realize it or not, almost every moment of every day, we are asking, “Am I of worth?”
melissa b. howell

When we answer this question, rather than answering it for ourselves, we answer it in relation to other people.

We determine whether we are of MORE worth, or LESS worth than others. We are measuring our VALUE in relation to other people.

This all happens unconsciously, in the blink of an eye, without us even realizing it.

Let me give you a few examples, and you’ll see what I mean.

In my earlier example, where I’m criticizing other drivers for being too slow, not signaling, or not staying in their lane, I am esteeming my worth as above theirs. I think I am a better driver, more intelligent, and more aware. (My dad used to say that other people had the “awareness of a turnip.”)

Let’s say somebody criticizes you. My daughter just started college and recently overheard one of her roommates telling her mother that my daughter was “weird, anti-social, and sheltered.” In that moment, my daughter probably felt like her worth was less than her roommate’s. She felt bad, embarrassed, and wondered if those things were really true.

So people like me and her friends told her helpful things like, “Your roommate is the problem. It’s too bad that she can’t see who you really are. I don’t think she’s very happy.” So now, my daughter has the opportunity to feel that she has MORE worth than her roommate. That she’s actually the better, more kind, more spiritual person.

But the truth is, none of this is real. Nobody is EVER better than or worse than someone else!

Why? Because our worth is the same.

No human is worth more than any other. It doesn’t matter if you’re comparing a Nobel Peace Prize Winner to a homeless person on the street. Every individual was born with exactly the same worth.

What is that worth?

It is infinite.

It cannot be measured.

And it is equal.

This means that no matter what you do or don’t do…

No matter what you say or don’t say…

No matter how you look, or drive, or think…

You and I and every other person on this planet are worth exactly the same.

This means that comparison is futile. There IS no comparison, because the answer is always the same! Nobody is better than or worse than anybody else.

So the next time you’re tempted to tell someone off in traffic, remember–you might think you’re a better driver than they are–but that doesn’t mean you’re WORTH more than they are.