You may feel that your importance is based on your job title, what others think of you, your bank account, your degree, or even how many books you read in a year.
But there are not conditions that need to be met in order for you to be important, you are important for the simple fact that you are a person living on planet earth.
As humans we want to feel important to and often look for external validation. But others don’t get to decide if you are important, you do and you don’t need to justify that to anyone.
What it means to be important
We over complicate and apply rules to what it means to be important, but it’s much simpler than that. Being important means you have a place in the world and are allowed to take up space. It means you believe in yourself and you are there for yourself through the rollercoaster that is life. It’s recognizing that you are a unique individual who is worthy of love, acceptance, happiness, and respect.
Allow yourself to be important
You may not feel that you are important, but you are. We often look to external validation or praise to help us realize that we are important. We want others to notice us and our accomplishments and milestones. But we often focus too much on what others think of us and not enough of what we think of ourselves.
The simple fact that you are human being living on earth means you are important. Others may try and convince you otherwise, but it is essential for each of us to realize our own importance.
Other people will give you labels or hang too much emphasis on one aspect of your life, but that doesn’t need to be what makes you feel important. Your importance is not based on what others think of you. You know yourself best and you know that you matter.
You decide what is important
Along with recognizing your own importance, you get to decide what is important to you. That’s anything from the companies you give your money to, the traits you value most, and what passions you want to pursue.
You have the power to bring into your life things that you enjoy and add value.
What is important to you may not be important to others, and that’s totally fine. Allowing others to determine what is important to them is what makes us unique. Being open to what matters to others help us learn about them and ourselves.
Do not feel guilty for being important
Much of life feels like a competition. Trying to climb up the job ladder, getting the best grades, working the most hours. Because of that we associate importance with those who have accomplished a lot in the eyes of society. You may not feel that you can call yourself important because you have not accomplished or done what others have.
It can be easy to brush off your own importance and list all the other people you think are more important than you. But life isn’t a competition and we don’t need to rank people from least to most important.
Do not give others the power to decide if you are important or not. That power and decision belong to you alone.
You are not more or less important than anyone else, you are important and it is that simple.
Important doesn’t mean big
It can be easy to associate “importance” with “big”. Meaning that in order for something to be important it must have a far-reaching impact or be an outwardly impressive accomplishment. But, we do important things everyday of our lives.
The kindness we bring, the love we share, the respect we show, and the acceptance we give in our everyday life is important. This means you living your day to day life is important.
Enjoy the big milestones and opportunities, but don’t hang your importance on them. They are added bonuses but are not what make you as a person matter.
Not everyone will find you important
Just as not everyone will like you, not everyone will value you and realize your importance. You may have people in your life such as friends, co-workers, or family, to whom you want to be important, but it’s not something we can force onto others.
It is not worth your time or energy to try and convince people that you are in fact important. Work on ensuring you matter to yourself. If others end up feeling you are important, that’s wonderful, but doesn’t ultimately affect your value or the fact that you deserve a place in this world.
Accomplishments and milestones in your life may feel much more impactful to you than they do to others. We know how much hard work has gone into a project or what a big deal it is to finally keep a plant alive. We want people to feel what we have done is as important as we feel it is, but it often doesn’t happen that way. It can be hard to not let than affect you, but remember that you know the whole picture of what you have done and you get to decide what is important.
What you can do
Remind yourself that you are important
It can be hard to just believe that you as a person and what you are doing is important, but you are and it is.
It can also be hard and feel cheesy or disingenuous to take time out of your day to remind yourself that you’re important. But just as you would tell a friend they are important, tell yourself that you are important as well.
Recognizing your importance means you’re not relying on others to make you feel you matter. You become more aware of your self-worth and what your values are. You start to see that your voice deserves to be heard and your everyday actions have an impact.
Remind others they are important
There are many things that go unsaid, often because we think people already know how we feel. But we should work to take every opportunity to let people know that they are important to us and the world.
Spread kindness and positivity by taking the time to tell and show people that you appreciate them and the unique perspective they bring to the world.
The next time you think about complimenting someone, letting someone know they are loved, thanking someone, or taking action to show you appreciate someone, do it. Don’t hesitate to help others see that they are important and matter.