It’s a Sign of Self-Respect to Protect Your Time, Not Selfishness

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Read this if you’re tired of saying yes when you really want to say no, if you feel like your time is slipping away from you, and hate the fact that you always put yourself last.

A joyful woman with natural curly hair smiling brightly, her hands framing her face. The image conveys confidence, self-love, and a positive sense of individuality, resonating with the theme of protecting one's time as an act of self-respect.

Choosing to neglect your own needs in favour of others is not the flex you think it is.

Putting others’ time before yours, pushing back your schedule, and always being available will not make people appreciate you more.

You’ve been led to believe that self-sacrifice is a sign of love, that your only currency in this world comes from how much you can give.

But every time you say yes when you want to say no, you are sending a message—to the world, to the people you so desperately care about, and to yourself—that your feelings don’t matter. That you don’t matter.

Imagine what it does to your soul to see this limiting belief show up every single time you fail to assert yourself.

I don’t matter
My time doesn’t matter
Other people are more important than me

It takes its toll.

You might believe that it’s just the cost of kindness—the emptiness you feel. You know that deep down you can’t keep going on like this because the more you give, the more they take and less you feel like yourself.

This isn’t selflessness

It’s self-abandonment.

Light blue background with black handwritten text that reads: 'Dear perfectionist, Your time is not separate from you—it is everything you are right now and it is the only thing you have: your priorities, your values, your deepest self, your guide, your lessons, your hopes and dreams.' At the bottom, the text credits Teresa Richards from thevaluedlife.co.uk.

Your time is not separate from you—it is everything you are right now and it is the only thing you have: your priorities, your values, your deepest self, your guide, your lessons, your hopes and dreams.

And once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

Saying no isn’t selfish

Those who don’t respect your boundaries don’t respect you.

If you’re always wondering why the people in your life feel so comfortable claiming your time without your consent.

It’s because you let them.

You teach people how to treat you and if you don’t value your time, they won’t either.

Your time is not just a block in your calendar or a day they claim, it’s your whole life, and it’s unrecoverable and irreplaceable. Because your time is you.

It’s not your fault that you’ve been taught that your time doesn’t matter.

It’s not your fault that you’re scared to let people down for fear that they’ll think less of you

And it’s definitely not your fault that you don’t know what it feels like to protect your time just for you

But now it’s your responsibility to change that.

If you continue to allow people to waste your time, fill it with items that cause you to stray from your mission and make you feel guilty for not doing it, your self-worth will degrade.

Every time you fail to say no to these time infringements you lose part of yourself and when others take it without your consent, they’re taking pieces of who you are.

Until one day you realise you’ve been living life for someone else. Everybody else

Except you.

When you realise saying no to things keeps you safe. It keeps you on track, centred on your values-driven mission.

Something powerful shifts.

You’ll feel in alignment.

You’ll feel free.

Unrestricted.

Light blue background with black handwritten text that reads: 'Dear perfectionist, Saying no to things is really a yes to the things that matter. To the things that bring you ever so much closer to feeling like the real you.' At the bottom, the text credits Teresa Richards from thevaluedlife.co.uk

Saying no to things is really a yes to the things that matter. To the things that bring you ever so much closer to feeling like the real you.

And while it might feel uncomfortable, uneasy and even painful to put your needs first. You need to understand that it’s not a rejection of others, it’s a reflection of yourself.

It’s self-respect.

Standing on business is reclaiming the narrative of your life.

When you protect your time you are declaring to the world that your time matters.

You matter

Because you are the only person you’re going to be with your whole life, this declaration of love—because it is just that—will save you. It Will plant your roots into the ground and force you to become one with something deeper.

You’ll see that time was here before you and it will be here long after you’re gone so in this short time you have you might as well use it to drive your life purpose

Time is your most precious resource. Protect it with your life

Because it is your life. You can’t separate yourself from time so every decision to honour it is to honour yourself and every decision to abandon it is to abandon who you are. You are becoming and unbecoming with every action, so choose wisely.

Your default will always push your needs to the back burner, which is why you need to say no to things that don’t align with your mission even when it’s tempting to say yes.

You are time and time is you

When you protect it, you protect yourself

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