Hey Y'all!
Do you know your worth? Do you know what worth means? "The level at which someone or something deserves to be valued or rated" - according to Google at least. Who do you think determines your worth, the level at which you deserve to be valued at? YOU determine your worth! How you determine it is a personal choice. Me, I always "knew" my worth set by God, but I didn't feel my worth the way He knew it.
So, what changed? I got sick of it. Sure, I forget how much I am worth at times, but I stand my ground more than I ever used to. I don't just mean financial when it comes to salaries and such (although as women we got to start demanding our professional worth be reflected in our salaries). I mean our worth in how we allow people to treat us, love us, and how we hold out for better because we know we are worth it.
You must determine what your boundary line is and set that line because you my friend are worth it. No questions about it. Like so many people around me, this past year in the pandemic had me seriously questioning my professional worth. I haven't had great previous experiences with jobs when it came to my worth. In fact, the jobs lessened my perspective of my worth. Beer cans/bottles thrown at my head, threats to physically assault me to teach me a lesson, opinions expressed that it be better if I stopped existing, the lack of support and validation from my supervisors. And this was from the young adult students AND the GROWN adults that advised them. Being let go due to budget cuts really makes one question their worth even more. If we were worth it, wouldn't they have fought to keep us instead of chopping our position? For someone who was questioning their worth it really was that cherry on top.
The time away gave me the time to really find my worth and what I wanted. SO MANY people questioned me and shared their unsolicited opinions about my plans and what I should do with MY life. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me "You can't be picky and need to just take what is available" I would probably be able to pay off half my student loan debt! But I knew. I knew what I wanted and knew I would not settle. Why? Because I was worth it and deserved to have my new career chapter be something that doesn't suck my soul and energy. Not just on the job front either. I knew how I deserved to be treated and how I refused to be treated or talked to.
For the first time I stood my ground. I called people out when they were speaking to me without the respect I deserved. I called them out when they were speaking about me. I for sure was not standing for any more repeats of when a higher up supervisor was texting about me (in a less than flattering light) to another supervisor but copied me on the group text! I knew what kind of work environment I wanted, I knew how I wanted the job to make me feel and I knew I wanted an amazing team to work with. And guess what? I FOUND it! I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am to start the next chapter in my professional career. I questioned so much the "why" for my "soon to be previous job" I had taken that was supposed to be so different than how it turned out. And now at the end of that journey I see the plan He had in it for me. I needed insurance. He provided a job for it. I couldn't relocate because nothing affordable was available. And thank goodness He put those obstacles in my way (I didn't see it when I was in the middle of it). Had I relocated I wouldn't have found this new job. Having that temporary job showed me I can do something different than my previous field. It gave me the self-confidence to apply for my new job! I knew I was worth it. I knew I deserved to hold off for the RIGHT job that met my needs and I met theirs.
My advice? Surround yourself with people who know your worth. I have an outstanding group of longtime friends and relatively new friends that saw my worth before I did. Seeing myself from their eyes started to change the way I saw myself. A football team gets cheerleaders, and they are just throwing a ball and running with it (don't come for me). You are LIVING your life and you too deserve cheerleaders. Go out and get them. My cheerleaders are AMAZING. They pick me up, they keep me up, and they scream GO GABBY when I need the reminder. You need that and you deserve that! I hope you know your worth and if you don't, I hope you start to, because your worth is there. Don't forget, know your worth, then add tax!
Love you like glitter!
xoxo, Gabby