A Call For Self Worth

This one is for the girls. I mean, boys, please read on but this is another "review" of my gender.

Self worth. A synonym for self esteem. A term used to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his/her worth. Self worth is a tricky thing to talk about because I believe it greatly differs from one person to the next. To share my thoughts, I'm going to limit this to again the society I find myself in (BYU, 18-20 year old girls) but I feel like my feelings goes across the board as well.

What I find very interesting is as human beings, we love praise. We love it. When we achieve something spectacular, we look for praise. When we receive an "A", we want everyone to know. When we lose weight or go to the gym, we update our Facebook status to show our success. When we cook something, we share that food with those around and expect praise.

I noticed this in particular at my FHE. We were asked to say our names, where we were from, and one interesting thing about ourselves. Trying to appear humble, I said I'm decent at guitar. It's true. I'm not the best but I'm just alright. My roommates rush to praise me, saying I'm awesome, and I have a great voice (thanks ladies :). But if I feel that I do have a beautiful voice and I'm really good at guitar, why didn't I just say so? Where did we get this idea that bragging is so wrong?

Now, let's get to my point. In my humble opinion, most girls around here get their self worth from a couple of things; baking, schooling, homemaking, etc.

But there's one major value of self worth I didn't mention and it needs to be addressed.

Boys.

Now, my faithful readers, you're going to think that I just sit around and think about boys and girls and relationships all the time. True. But the reason behind my thinking is that it's a huge concern for everyone around me (and yes, I include myself in that) here at BYU. I come in contact with females and males every day and I spend my free time analyzing those I come in contact with (No one is safe...ha ha ha, just kidding).  Especially on Tuesdays/Thursdays when my classes are very theory based, socially based, and I find myself thinking a lot about society.

Back to the topic at hand...

I simply do not understand this mindset we have where we need to have a boy to tell us to feel good. Where, when, and how was it started, because I wanna give the creator a piece of my mind. Where in society did we get this idea that we have to have a man to feel good about ourselves? To feel beauty? To feel important? WHY?
The girls I'm seeing today has this idea that if they are single, they are of no worth.
Wait....so the way this mindset goes....seeing as I'm currently single, I'm no good to society and should go live in a mountain colony on top of Timp because I'm a shame to society.
WRONG.
Girls, I'm single and I've never had more fun in my life. SURE, relationships are awesome, I mean, I love having a boy tell me I'm beautiful, I'm fun to be around, and he really likes me. Same goes for boys. And if you out there don't like having someone else tell you how awesome you are and how awesome you look, there's a problem.
But why, whyyyyy, do we take another's view of us and base it off our own self worth? Why do girls feel like if they are still single, they have no worth to the world of men?

Ladies, stand up for yourself! Don't be vain but understand that you are awesome even if you are still single! You are beautiful even if you don't have a boy texting you saying you look gorgeous today. Understand that self worth comes from yourself. You have to be happy yourself before you can make someone else happy.

If you can't find joy, happiness, self worth from yourself, maybe you can from this quote.
"Did you know that [God] knows you personally--by name? You may not have heard the Lord call you by name, but He knows each one of you and He knows your name. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said. 'I testify to you that God has known you individually for a long, long time. He has loved you for a long, long time. He not only knows the names of all the stars; He knows your names and all your heartaches and your joys!" - Elaine S. Dalton.
There is a God in heaven looking down on each and everyone of us who loves us more than we can comprehend. He loves us, cares for us and hurts with us. He is much more important than those around you and He never stops caring.

All I'm saying is self worth can come deep from within. We shouldn't base our happiness on those around us or from how much praise we get. I shouldn't base my self worth on how many of you read and visit my blog. Instead, I need to realize that I am a capable human being who is loved by a Heavenly King.