The thing about respect is that it’s a whole lot easier to get if you give it first.
And the main person you should give respect to is yourself.
After all, how can you expect anyone to respect you if you don’t even respect yourself?
Respect
Published by Fox Michaels
Fox Michaels is a Certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Practitioner from the Academy of Modern Applied Psychology. He is an intuitive leader with more than 15 years experience as a trainer. In his spare time, Fox writes the ongoing blog Like a Fox!, where he shares his fun, joyful approach to life and love, as his own way of contributing to the Human Potential Movement. When not reading from his library full of personal development books, you can find Fox enjoying the cinema perks of being on AMC’s A-List, and also working to make sure that he’s the most stylish man on his own Instagram page. Feel free to check out if he's succeeding with that @foxmichaels. View all posts by Fox Michaels
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I completely agree with your take on respect, but I have mixed feelings about the phrase “respect your elders.”
Some people take this so literally that they become self-centered and not worthy of respect from anyone. The underlying cause: exactly what you said – they don’t respect themselves.
It all starts with you.
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I completely agree with you. I think your instincts are right on about them not respecting themselves. “Elders” deserve respect simply because they are people, as everyone deserves respect to *be* no matter what age they are.
But they don’t get a free pass to be assholes, nobody does.
And I feel like some of them stand out because they’ve had decades of practice being jerks.
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> they’ve had decades of practice being jerks
Absolutely the case. If you try to tell them any different, even in a sincere, respectful manner, the script gets flipped and you’re portrayed as the asshole.
I guess you could argue that it becomes more of an ego thing
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Great point. It’s best to let them be. And respect yourself enough to not fall down that negative rabbit hole they’re in.
As a glimpse into our own future, they are great teachers, even if only as a cautionary tale.
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