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Everyone wants to be heard and respected. Even if you’re struggling emotionally and don’t feel like you deserve it, deep down inside you still want it. This is a natural, healthy part of every human and we all deserve to be heard and respected. I’m not going to promise to give you some magic self-help tidbit that will suddenly give you a platform for your opinions, far from it. What I will give you is two words; self-leadership. You see, being heard and respected starts with yourself. Are you listening to yourself? Are you taking control of your own thoughts, health, and responsibilities? If you are not taking responsibility for your own needs - be they physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual - then can you truly say you are listening to you? According to James 4:17, if we know what we should be doing but do not do it then we are sinning. If we are sinning against ourselves can we truly claim to respect ourselves? Speaking of James, who was the leader of the New Testament church, his letter to the church at large focused heavily on the principles of self-leadership; taming your tongue (3:1-12), taming your motives (2:1-13, 3:13-18, holding yourself accountable (1:21-27). James knew that the only way we as Christians could lead the world to Christ was if we first learned to properly lead ourselves to follow Christ. It is going to be a difficult and life-long process but if you deliberately strive to take personal responsibility, conform your thoughts and speech to God’s word (especially your self-talk!), and prayerfully consider every motive you will see God working with you and building amazing things on that foundation of self leadership.