How Do We Perceive Our Own Value?

One of the interesting things about the whole human experience is that we tend to have very different impressions about our value as human beings.

It would be easy to just say that our "value" is contingent on our self-esteem, but I think that misses a large part of the picture. We were taught things as children — some good, some not so good — and those lessons often end up forming the basis of how we view ourselves later in life.

For example, my parents were all about learning and schooling, and they wrapped a lot of what they insisted was "valuable" about me up in intelligence. In their world, intelligent people had more value than not-so-intelligent people.

There is little doubt that it was very frustrating to them that I was more interested in doing physical things than things that are purely involved my brain.

Although I did do quite well in school, I found book learning to be incredibly tedious, and I was always looking forward to doing things that produced far more tangible results. Which wasn't to say that I didn't use my brain from time to time!

Some people wrap their value up almost entirely in their accomplishments. They may be highly skilled at something, but no matter how skilled they get it's never enough and they keep trying to accomplish more and more every day. Of course, this is neither "wrong" nor "right;" it is simply another expression of perceived value.

I remember quite a few of my friends when I was at University putting an awful lot of emphasis on their popularity, and on being well liked in a social sense. Once again, this is another expression of perceived value.

On a personal level, I have deviated considerably from my parents' original intention that was all focused on intelligence and intellect, because I see most of my value coming from being a kind-hearted and compassionate person. Of course, that's not something you can necessarily turn into a profession but I'm not sure that (a profession) is central to how I define my personal value.

I also know that I have a natural gift for finding things, and consider it one of the ways I add value to the world. I have found many lost keys and misplaced wallets in my years on this planet... perhaps as a consequence of having studied human nature for so long.

One of the challenges we often face is dealing with the gap between our own self-perception and the perception other people have of us. I often have felt like the reality of me falls far short of what other people see.

One of these days, I hope to bring that into balance.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

How about YOU? Do you a have a clear picture of your "value" in the world? Does other people's perception of you match your own? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2026.08.21 23:45PDT
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