How Much Are You Worth - and how do you know?

Self worth.....it's a term that everyone knows, it is often talked about but what I want to know is how do you measure your self worth?!

I certainly get the concept of NOT valuing myself enough, I also recognise now  that there have been a lot of times that I have valued others more highly than myself and allowed people to treat me in ways that I feel undervalued but have accepted the treatment as if that is simply my lot in life. Or perhaps it was more that I didn't consciously realise that I going along, thinking that I was setting an example of how I would like to be treated, when in reality what I was really doing was putting anyone and everyone around me's wants and needs before any of my own then feeling upset and resentful when people turned up to keep taking and taking because I had taught them that I would just keep on giving.

STOP THE RIDE I WANT TO GET OFF!!!!!

Ok so light bulb moment, this is not how I want to be operating in the world, I am devaluing myself and placing pretty much anyone else that comes into my life above myself. Right, realisation confirmed, um what now?? How do I go about raising my own value, my self-worth to at the very least the level that I hold everyone else in?

How is self-worth measured? Is it a matter of being able to say 'no' when you need to? Is it reminding myself to not give quite so much of 'me' away to everyone that comes into my life? Or is it about simply starting to ask myself 'does this make me feel worthy?'

As I look back over my past I see times that I have tried to assert my worth to others by perhaps almost demanding that things be different, almost like a silent scream that says 'Can't you see me?! I'm right here and I need to be acknowledged too' but it is the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, not the silent one. But in what ways do I 'say' I am worthy without appearing to be having a tantrum or acting in a way that is completely unlike myself?

As I sit quietly with that question I am reminded that someone 'out there' in the universe has a great sense of humour because the answer that comes through, very clearly, into my mind is 'It's just like asking how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time'.......