Your value should not be determined by the opinions of others. No one is deserving of that power. Yet, many of us freely hand that power to others. We allow a partner, spouse, friend, or a group of people to dictate our self-worth; the way we should feel about ourselves.

This mentality is destructive, painful, and toxic. Often times we seek happiness in others because we’ve yet to discover how to be happy alone. In reality, if you can’t be happy alone, you can never be truly happy with someone else. In a world dominated by social media, where we only see the highlights of the lives of others, we compare our lives, as a whole, to their spotlight; to the things they want people to see, rather than the reality behind closed doors.

The majority of us are guilty of allowing an undeserving person to set our value, to determine what we are “worth”. Whether it’s in the past or present, unfortunately, many of us have been there.

Don’t allow your self-worth to plummet just because someone else could not, or would not, see your value. None of us are perfect, but we all have valuable traits, characteristics, and assets. Regarding the search for true love, many will take the abuse, will allow others to belittle and discourage us, will subconsciously volunteer to confine themselves to the box that others place them into.

This is not love.

Love is warm. Love is welcoming. Love is just as accepting of the flaws as it is the beauty, inside and out. Love is not controlling. Love is not manipulative. Love is not lowering your self-worth just to be able to say you have someone.

You have value. Regardless of what you’ve been told or what others have convinced you to be true, you are priceless. There is beauty in all of us. We are all deserving of true happiness, and that begins with finding happiness in solitude, understand your value, and not lowering either for the benefit of others.

Take the power from those that don’t deserve you. Stop allowing your value to be determined by those who can’t see it.