If you ever feel unappreciated, you’re not alone. It sucks feeling like you’re not being appreciated enough for the things you do. Especially when you do it for the people you love. Instead maybe you get to hear the things you don’t do right and how you “always do something wrong”. I think it all comes down to one thing in the end. Do you appreciate yourself?
What I mean is simply this, even if people around you might not see the things you do on a daily basis, it doesn’t mean your good deeds go unseen. You did it, you saw it and so you can appreciate yourself for doing whatever it is that you’ve done. Agreed, it always feels much better when we hear it from someone else. I’m referring to the occasional but much wanted, ´thank you for helping me out`. Can you say thank you to yourself? Of course you can.
It’s not weird. What’s weird, I think, is that we live in a society where almost every other person feels under appreciated. I’ve been guilty of not stopping at times to say thank you properly to someone who just opened the door for me or to a gentleman who let me walk ahead into the bus. And since I realize this I can practice more on appreciating myself and others. I have a feeling that you might not be so different.
It’s difficult to show appreciation to others if you don’t show it to yourself. Once you start appreciating yourself for the smallest things though, you will find it much easier to appreciate others. And the effect appreciation has on people is amazing. If you are told a `thank you´ for something you did, aren’t you likely to want to repeat that action? Else it can feel as if ‘nobody cares’ when we do something nice – So, why even bother?
Even though it sounds obvious to practice appreciating people more, try doing it anyways. Most importantly, thank yourself. You can do this by either telling yourself that you did a great job or a nice thing right there. Or you could just write down the things you do every day that no one seems to notice. Once you have a list of things you will feel proud and good just looking at it. You might even have forgotten the stuff you did last week but this list will remind you and that feeling of appreciation will spark inside you. Doesn’t matter if no one sees it but what matters is that you notice it and give yourself credit.
Being left feeling unappreciated for too long can result in relationships ending, resentments towards people we care about and even depression. Try being the person who says a thank you and who can tell, a tired yet smiling cashier at the supermarket, they’re doing a great job. They will remember it and feel appreciated. It doesn’t have to take a life time to create change in this world. You and I can start today by just showing a bit of gratitude, kindness and appreciation to our fellow human beings.
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Choose to be happy,
Selma