Today, I've got an important message for everybody.
I'm going to cut right to the chase—you've got to guard your heart.
What I mean by that is pretty simple—I'm don't speak in the context of relationships specifically; what I mean by guarding your heart is a lot more general. You've got to guard your heart from certain information, because not all information is good. We live in a time right now wherein it's easy to be overloaded by data. Every time you pick up your phone, somebody is going to tell you that you have to do something.
How do you guard your heart? How do you stay constant and true to yourself when the entire world is giving the real you the worst kind of feedback?
Step one—set your values and principles in place, and don't let them move an inch.
If you don't want to fall victim to bad information or fancy presentation, you've got to filter the world around you through a set of standards. I'm a firm believer that you should never lower your standards at all. Let me put it this way—whoever you are, you're reading this for a reason. You want to be a better person. That's why you need standards that you'll refuse to ever lower. That's why you've got to stop settling for far less than you deserve.
Step two—stop trusting the noise over what you know in your heart.
Don't let social media define you. Stop settling for those dangerous voids in your life, and stop being vulnerable to anything presented well. Stop letting yourself be scammed, and stop falling for products and services you don't need. Don't cling to something, or someone, just because you dislike being lonely. If that thing or person or social group is less than you deserve, get it out of your life! I know that's easier said than done, but you deserve nothing less than what meets your standards.
When you own yourself, you become invincible.
That's the third step—to truly own yourself.
How do you own yourself? Owning yourself is about knowing who you are and what you're worth. Owning yourself requires you to value your own soul over all else, and to realize that there's nobody quite like you in this entire world. Owning yourself is about realizing that God's on your side, and remembering how powerful you truly are. There is no price that can be put on your soul or your heart, so stop selling yourself.
It's time to stop settling. Stop settling for heartbreak and bad friends and subpar opportunities. Stop settling for what is only slightly better than nothing at all, and stop lowering your standards for the world. I'll close my message today with a question—what are you worth? I want you to think hard about that question until you figure it out.
It all starts with you.
