value
There is so much value in knowing your value.
How do you value yourself, introduce yourself, define yourself?
What is your worth?
When we recognize our value, we stop allowing others to question our worth.
I spent years defining myself thru external descriptors — my job title, ex-boyfriend, shoes, where I grew up, my resume, and so on. When I quit my job, and quit my ex to start Box + Flow it was the first time I dropped everything I was holding onto. I had to stand on my feet, define myself thru me — not my new business or someone’s plus one — along for a new adventure which made me realize that my journey, my choices, my life didn’t need to make sense to anyone but me.
I hadn’t run an operational business, I had never taught a class, my resume didn’t align with my new journey. But THIS was my chance, to stop defining thru external, and start valuing me —-Olivia. Self-defined. Not thru my business but thru time I found my confidence, my core, my center —- without all the extra. Dating myself. Living my life. Feeling everything. Learning along the way. I had nothing to hide behind. I had to learn to live with —- even celebrate — ME!
When we are stripped of all the extras, our egos —we are left with our heart. When life happens, the job is no longer your own, a relationship ends, your wealth disappears, kids move away, who are you now?
Lean into that space instead of filling in the blanks with empty.
Start from who you are, not who you were or who you will be. Reconnect.
We are not defined by what we own, how we look, the people we know, places we live, the places we’ve been. Our “things” mean nothing, because if they are all we have, what happens if they disappear?
Along my journey, I connected to my purpose — beyond the physical, how something looked, or what others thought, but rather how I felt. Evolution is a multilayered experience. We grow forward, grow into ourselves or we don’t. We connect to our value, or we liv disconnected, defined thru things, reaching outwards, seeking answers, always. But trust me when I tell you, that finding your value will lead to a valuable life, filled with experience rather than existence.
This digital age we live in is the perfect reason to stay disconnected forever—to take a photo for the ‘Gram, to connect to others thru imagery, to stay on the surface, to define ourselves thru our families, our stories, our titles, our “things.” I met a man thru instagram a few months back. He followed me, I DM’d him. And after a few dates, he said, if you hadn’t reached out, i definitely wouldn’t have pursued you. Your instagram, too much. I heard him, internalized, and thought --- Funny. Your judgement. Too much.
We are so quick to judge. To value others at face value - by what we see, surface. No one is that simple.
What if we come back to value? What if we come back to ourselves?
Judgement is a projection of how we judge ourselves.
This occurred again. and then i listened -- not to him, but to my intuition.
As we grow, we get to know ourselves. Valuing yourself is a journey. Me? I have to stop and check in often—to catch my bluff, to recommit to my honesty when life feels disconnected, to ask myself what is blocking my evolution. Why am I filling time? Empty space. I have to reconnect.Because when I am disconnected, I lose my value in creating connection to others. See this life, it’s complicated, but it doesn't have to be. It can be simple. If we are selfish, if we connect within, we can be selfless. we can give from a place of having already gotten. To see value in others, you have to first see value in yourself.
What space, what void are you filling? What value do you seek that hasn’t already been self-valued? It always comes back to you.
When we stop valuing ourselves thru what we have - let go of the attachments,
We start valuing ourselves thru who we are
Find some love today, some value today. For you, today.
#workhard #livyoung #loveyourself