Standing Up for Yourself, Even When It’s Hard

Are you a friend to yourself? Do you know how to take care of your needs? Do you take care of yourself? If not, you need to learn how and begin to do so as soon as possible and you are the only that can. One of the key elements of self-care is standing up for yourself, no matter the situation.

Standing up for yourself can be hard, especially after something that you tried didn’t work out. However, sticking up for yourself is also important. When people personally attack us, it’s usually because they are trying to gain power over us.

After all, if we can’t trust ourselves, we have to put our trust in others. Really, standing up for yourself is the act of actively believing in yourself in the face of personal attack.

Identify Your “Weakness”

The first part of standing up for yourself is identifying the personal trait behind what’s going on. That’s the trait that will be under attack if things don’t work out.

Did your inventiveness lead you to try something that no one had tried before? Did your bravery lead you to take on a task that no one had dared? These are positive traits, but they will be under attack as those around you try to pin it on you.

These are positive traits and, while it is important to understand where things went wrong to avoid future mistakes, it is also important to not let one failure or mistake give others the opportunity to stamp out your personality.

Know “The System”

One important part of standing up for yourself is recognizing systems. Systematic problems or limitations were likely a contributing factor in things not working out – or in people trying to convince you that things didn’t work out. However, in most cases, systems are the reason that you need to stand up for yourself at all.

Usually, when people attack us for things it is because they are trying to establish blame because if they don’t blame someone else, someone else will blame them.

Understanding the system in which you operate can help you to navigate that system, even when it seems to be working against you.

Offer a Solution

Standing up for yourself shouldn’t be a simple, selfish act. If things aren’t going well, you’re likely to come under attack. When you do, drawing a line in the sand will only get you so far. You’ll also need to offer a solution to the situation. Don’t just come up with a defense for yourself, come up with a new offense for the situation that got you here.

Pick Your Battles

Finally, standing up for yourself may mean giving some ground. Sometimes you need to admit that something didn’t work out and ask for help. There’s something to be said for standing by your guns and never giving an inch but sometimes you have to play the end game and realize that you may need to accept someone else’s terms from time to time if it means being able to keep moving forward.

Standing up for yourself is an important way to maintain faith in all of the things that make you good at what you do, even if people are more likely to pray on your failures than praise your successes.

The idea of standing up for yourself means admitting when things aren’t working and determining ways to move forward without giving up on yourself because things didn’t go exactly as planned.

Take the time to learn this key life skill, and you will see great improvements in your intrapersonal and interpersonal worlds.