What Makes You Worth Fighting For?

[Candleflames]

For part of my exposure therapy I have to write about what a wonderful person I am that I should fight for myself, for my own mental health. My T established long a go that listening to my accomplishments and positive traits was just as hard if not harder than to hear my traumas and negative cognitions. I've been having a difficult time with this. I feel like a braggart. Plus when it comes down to it what makes a person worth anything? How about that we are. We are here, we live and we feel. That really should be enough to convince ourselves that we have value and are worth it.

What do you all think? What makes a person have value and worth fighting for? What makes you worth the energy put into this struggle? I'll start:

I am a good, no I am a great mom. I'm the reason my children know how to think topics through not just what to believe. I have for a long time asserted that no subject should be taboo from discussion. This is how we grow into informed individuals. We talk about subjects and test our knowledge of them to better understand our world, our fellow humans and ourselves. Only two rules apply you must be calm and polite. My children while still learning are taking these things to heart and it is making for some amazingly compassionate and curious individuals.

 

[Ellabella44]

Great list, I'd have same problem. Its easier to list why other people seem to like and need you than to list why you are worth something to the most important person.... Yourself. I'll try this tomorrow. Thank you for bringing this up.

 

[Tinyflame]

I am sure you are (amongst other things) a great mom @Candleflames . :) :hug:

Its easier to list why other people seem to like and need you than to list why you are worth something

I don't find it easy, I've heard & been shown the opposite from people who matter. Good question though, probably what makes it difficult. For me, the work is up to no one else, so that's why it's done, & survival, more so than being 'worth' the energy or struggle.

 

[Friday]

'Mine is not to reason why. Mine is but to do or die.'

'The woods are lovely, dark, & deep.
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep.'

 

[Changing4Best]

I have a wonderful singing voice and I use it every Sunday singing with my church's choir. We lead the congregation in worshiping God. I also have a knack for remembering music. If I have heard it once or twice, I can sing that tune again and again by heart. God has given me this gift and I am glad I can use it well.

I love to help others, I might just do something for them that is simple, like holding a door for them, carrying something for them or whatever they might need me to do. I feel I am on this earth to serve others in whatever capacity I can. I have a gift of seeing what needs doing to help others and doing it. I guess you can call that "stepping up to the plate" when others are in need.

I am a good listener. Folks sometimes turn to me for advice or just a sympathetic ear. Not everyone is willing to listen to their fellow man and be there to comfort them. I try to do this, because in my heart I know that it is important for others to be heard.

I was never able to have children, so I feel kind of lost in that area of life. That is the one thing I could not do, though I wanted to. Maybe there will be a lot of children for me to care for in Heaven. I sure hope so! It even says in the Bible that the woman who has no children will have many of them in Heaven. I can't wait! I named all my children, even though they were only in my womb for a short time. I asked God to give them their names too, so I hope they like them! I got this idea from the BOOK called HEAVEN IS FOR REAL by the Burpos. I think the author's name is Todd, if I recall correctly.

 

[Ronin]

I like fighting.

Especially when the chances of winning are 'bite me, universe, I'll try anyway'. Not giving up on that lost cause called me is edgy crap I can be doing when I'm not doing anything more useful for others.

 

[Ellabella44]

After much consideration, what makes me worth anything at all is I end up making a difference in the lives of others. I kept my brother safe during our parents marriage, I have talked a friend in high school out of suicide. I walked the neighborhood with a petition to keep the highway project from claiming part of the neighborhood as its area to build which would have put the highway closer to my former home and cost some families their homes. (I helped a neighbor who was a local radio personality do this). I helped make it so a sound barrier was also put up.

I have changed the life of the man I married. Helping him create a family that is stable and an environment I wish I had grown up in. Our children are in a safe and sarcastic caring environment. ;)

My husband and I adopted two cats and gave them a happy home until their deaths this year. We have adopted from shelters two new cats and are giving them same as our previous cats.

I take care of cats at a shelter and pet them and play with them so they are willing to be around people and find their forever home.

I have thought about where I want to go from here. One thought is pet sitting. Another would involve attempting a project locally. I have an idea to somehow match up people from a trauma center here with animal shelters who need volunteers. Working with shelter animals has done a lot for me.

 

[Tinyflame]

I guess I can't believe I have such worth. I have to try to do it without it.

 

[Stickler]

I am tired and sick, I want to go Home. People need me here, though.

 

[jaccat]

That's hard. I think for me it's something someone said to me once. He told me that once I have a claim to something I'll defend it to the death. He was talking about my department at work, but it applies to other things as well. Especially friendships. It might take me a couple of decades to trust a friend bit once I do that's it. Stupidly loyal.

Other than that I'm not so sure.

 

[Kintsugi]

In my first summer away from college, one of my internships was working at a women's center as a writing consultant largely assisting struggling women in writing coverletters for jobs. It became overwhelmingly obvious through my work that the hardest part for them about writing a coverletter was not their lack of composition skills but their lack of confidence to say I am the best for this job.

So, I'll write my coverletter.

Dear Universe,

I am writing in response to your call for healthy, happy and successfully integrated people. As someone who is ardently devoted to the values of self-love, universal compassion, strength in adversity, and the belief that good people can overcome the struggle and strife of discordant circumstance, I am certain that I would be an excellent fit for this position.

I have a high aptitude for finding health, happiness, and success as evidenced by my journey to migrate out of my place of trauma at the age of seventeen, when I left for college to earn a degree in my passion. In 2011, I successfully graduated in spite of being advised by mental health professionals to defer in favor of inpatient care. Although I have not yet found an academic weakness, I garnered my degree in writing, which is my passion, rather than in one of the many more lucrative fields I might have pursued in the interest of financial security. Furthermore, I have demonstrated the ability to commit to my own health by seeking resources to assist in supporting my health, happiness, and success, and I have recently recommitted to my own agency in finding a fully integrated self by leaving the security and familiarity of an ultimately doomed relationship.

I am confident that my extensive experience performing the duties you have outlined for this position makes me a perfect fit for your needs, and I am invigorated by the opportunities to grow that this position would offer me as I continue to cultivate my identity.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to working with you.

Simon

 

[intothelight]

My family...