Surround Yourself With The People Who Value You
People can like you or even love you, but if they don’t value you, their love will never be enough. The only way for you to feel that love is to feel valued, because you can love something and neglect it, you can love someone and still treat them poorly, because loving something or someone doesn’t guarantee that you will do whatever it takes to take care of them or protect them or keep them. You only do that with the things and the people you value. The things and people you are really afraid to lose because I have learned that people can love you but still not appreciate your presence in their lives. People can love you and still not know your worth.
If you want to build long-lasting connections, healthy relationships, and solid friendships, you have to surround yourself with the people who value you, not just love you. You have to surround yourself with people who know your worth and what you bring to the table. You have to surround yourself with people who cherish your presence and your time, because many people love you but take you for granted—they don’t take you seriously, they don’t listen to you when you speak and they don’t always respect your boundaries—but the ones who value you will always treat you with the utmost respect.
The people who value you won’t leave your messages unread or put your needs at the bottom of their list. They won’t leave you wondering what you mean to them or if they appreciate you. They won’t disappoint you when you need them or belittle you in front of people. The people who value you will always be one step ahead. You will see it in their actions and hear it in their words; even when you’re not around, you will have all the assurance you need, because when someone values you, you don’t question it. When someone values you, they always have time for you, they always make you feel heard and seen, they always make you feel important, and you’re always on the top of their list.
Many of us keep people in our lives because we love them, but we know deep down inside that they don’t value us, they don’t treat us the way we want to be treated, they don’t invest in us the same way they invest in the things they value, because people are capable of being so much more or giving so much more when they truly are afraid of losing something and we know that. The more you are afraid of losing something, the better you will be at guarding it and keeping it close to your heart.
Sometimes you have to ask yourself if the people in your life truly value you and appreciate you and if they truly honor your presence in their lives, because at the end of the day, these are the people you need. These are the people who will stay with you through thick and thin. These are the people who will walk in when everyone else walks out.