Hi Hubski
Here's the question I want to ask hubski: Do you think self-worth and being single is a gender-related issue: men can have self-worth just by being men but women are conditioned to base self-worth on their relationships.
I've been mulling this over for a few minutes thinking about single men and women that I know. For men as well as women, self-worth comes from working in the world. Being paid is nice, but self-worth also comes from volunteer work, helping others, and contributing, different ways of being loved, I guess.
Where does your sense of self-worth come from?
I'd be interested in your thoughts.
Edit: For those who don't click the title and get to the blog - this is not my question. It really was asked of me by a human. Where most of Lil's Book of Questions come from.
Three thoughts.
There's a part of me that always gets excited to say the words "My wife" because the hidden meaning in that is that someone values me enough to put up with my shit for the rest of my life. That's a lot of value.
My sense of self worth is partially external and partially internal. Externally, I believe the world is an amazingly beautiful place with so many exciting and wonderful things going on, even though sometimes we have a hard time seeing them. Internally, I am driven to do what I can, when I can, to reflect and perpetuate the sense of wonder I feel back into the world, so others can feel it too. Sometimes I forget to do that, because I'm often crabby, but when I do, I feel better about both myself and the world.
A good work ethic is an important part of self worth. A job or a career as a social status is a crumby measurement of worth. There is a difference.