I Deserve To Be Treated With Respect And Dignity

[red shoes]

Today, after reading something I wrote on Saturday, I have come to a new realization…

It’s not my fault when other people are cruel, mean, stupid, abusive, out of control, mad, angry, selfish or whatever. It doesn’t reflect who I am. They don’t reflect who I am. They don’t even have any real bearing on who I am. I have, at times, responded and reacted wrongly to the actions of these people and the things they have done to me or said to me. But I don’t have to believe what they have said about me or think that what they did was ok or that I somehow deserved to be treated that way.

This is a major breakthrough for me…I DON’T HAVE TO BELIEVE WHAT ALL THESE MEAN CRUEL PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT ME!! I am not the sum of what other people think of me, what they say of me, or even how others treat me. I am me. I deserve to be treated with respect and dignity just because I am a human being. I do not deserve to be treated like an animal or an object to be used and then discarded.

I can’t believe I am actually writing this and believing it…I am 50 years old and for the first time in my life I actually know that this is the truth. I don’t just hope or wish or even think it is true…I KNOW it is true.

I am crying and sobbing and bawling my head off…I think with the relief of knowing that I am separate from all those ugly actions and words. That those words and actions are not the whole story… they do not define me – who I am, what I can be and where I am going in my life. I do not have to do something else or become something else in order to be worth being treated right.

I know this new realization will require the responsibility on my part of treating myself and others with respect and dignity - easier said than done - but oh, how wonderful I feel right now! Like I'm soaring above the clouds...

 

[fin]

I am so very glad to read how wonderful you are feeling- this a success story, welldone red shoes. You soo deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and it is so good to read you say this about yourself here. Keep going with this, print it up somewhere you can see it easily. Take care of you and just so good to read you here feeling this way red.

yay you & congratulations,

 

[TLight]

Yes Red Shoes Yes!
YOu rock!

Yes, to be treated with respect is a fundamental human right. We deserve it just for being human. Unfortunately in this screwed up culture of ours, it seems we have to fight for it sometimes..............but it is worth the fight.

Right on!

 

[amethist]

Way to go Red shoes.

We all need to remember that, after all we are an island in a world of people who cannot or will not understand.

Best wishes

Amethist

 

[red shoes]

Thanks for the encouraging words, y'all!!

I cried off and on all day yesterday - it was great!! LOL

I don't know, maybe it doesn't sound all that big of a deal to others but this was REALLY a big deal to me... I really, honestly don't remember feeling or thinking this way about myself or my trauma event - EVER!! It is almost foreign to me to think about my first abusive situation as an adult, not as a child still stuck in the middle of the experience.

A little piece of reality...a little ray of light in a really dark scary place. I feel like I just put down my 40 lb. backpack after climbing the trails all day and I could just float off into the clouds...

And yes, Fin, I WILL be posting it up someplace. I'm just going to print it off now....I had already gotten that idea from you on another thread of yours. Thanks!!!!!!!

 

[Grama-Herc]

Red Shoes

You should be very proud of what you have accomplished here. Everyone deserves
to be treated with respect and dignity.

Enjoy your new found feeling

 

[supergirl]

Congrats!

This is great news Red shoes and I could not agree with you more! One of the most important lessons I have learned is that you cannot control other people's actions or words, only how you respond to them. I'm so happy for you!!!!

 

[red shoes]

Thank You!

:hello::clap:

Truly appreciate the applause from everyone! I don't have a major breakthrough very often, think it's been a year since the last one, but when I do, it seems to really stick, and I am enjoying it to the fullest!!

Bless you for sharing my joy! To quote an old Honduran proverb...

Grief shared is half grief, joy shared is double joy!

red shoes

 

[red shoes]

One of the most important lessons I have learned is that you cannot control other people's actions or words, only how you respond to them.

LOL!! The lesson I've just learned really is just a variation on that theme, isn't it, Supergirl? Only just now realized that! hahaha

And THAT is a lesson everyone on the planet needs to learn at some point or other....and the sooner the better :)

red shoes

 

[upstream]

I finally got here too! It's such a wonderful feeling, to not blame myself for someone else's shortcomings. And a shock, to suddenly see them for what they really are.

 

[Irton Pike]

Thats really good to read. I've been through that same experience of starting to recognise my own self worth and it is a major eyeopener. I am really happy for you. Well done!

 

[supergirl]

It is a shock isn't it? To see people clearly and realize they are not who you made them out to be. Funny how when people let us down it can sometimes be our fault because we projected traits on them that they never had. Not that they are bad people but because we needed them to be something that they are not