I am not a doormat.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38315697@N00/4836515215

Kindly do not use me as a doormat!  I am not a "kick me around the place, anytime you want to" kind of person.  I have value and I have a right to be the person I was intended to be.  If you don't like who I am, well tough crap.  I don't have to be you, and you certainly don't have to be me.

Wow, people must think I'm about to go on a tirade.  Truth be told I'm perfectly fine, but what I want to talk about today is that we have allowed others to dictate our own actions for far too long and it is time for you to take the stand that you are no longer going to be any one's "doormat".

We all know the saying "Do as I say, not as I do" is the height of hypocrisy.  It is the double standard of all double standards.  If you want to get on my bad side, not that I really have a bad side, simply a figure of speech, but if you want to get my dander up simply make that statement.  Someone so foolish as to use that statement to get stuff done around the office or workplace is simply not worthy to have that position.  I really look on with amazement when I see people who act this way.  They gain their worth by the position they hold instead of having worth in who they are first.  I have said this so many times in the past, but I'm going to say it again anyway: If you do not see yourself as good enough when you are a bottom of the ladder employee, then you will still not see yourself as good enough even when or if you occupy the CEO's chair.  We are not what we do.  Let me say that again just in case you didn't get it.  You are not what you do.  You might be a function of what you do, but that is not who you really are.  Until such time as you grab onto and hold on to the fact that you are a divine creation, you are going to be used as a doormat.

I received a very hard driving email from a friend the other day.  I have been following her progress as she navigates the very treacherous waters of being a very dynamic women who knows who she is and isn't afraid to show it.  When I first got the email I was a little taken back, but after some reflection what she was saying to me was correct, albeit with minor corrections, but we won't go there right now.  Anyway, she realizes that a strong dynamic women is more often than not labeled as a "bitch" or something similar as a descriptor.  She's not a "bitch", she simply has a great grasp on who and what she is, and she isn't going to let others take away what is rightfully hers.  I applaud her for her efforts and I am overjoyed at the progress she is making walking out her destiny.  It would have been so easy for me to take a defensive posture over the email, but what would that have done for me?  She was speaking to me out of love, and if I took it any other way, then I would have been operating out of something other than love.  Heck, sometimes love hurts, but sometimes you need a little kick in the ass to remind you of who you really are.

Each person is going to have to face this sooner or later, and I recommend that you do it much sooner then later.  I have allowed people to walk over me for way too many years.  I allowed that to happen because I had such a low opinion of myself and I figured bad behavior toward me was better then no behavior at all.  I have since learned over the years that I don't deserve to be treated like someone's lackey, and I refuse to accept that position.  So now my response is "Go away."  Simply go away, and don't come back until you can see who I really am, and that I just might have something of value to share with you if you will lay down your pride for a minute and simply be human.

You are not a doormat.  Your worth as an individual is beyond description, and I can tell you that until the cows come home, but until you believe it for yourself, you will continue to be walked on, and that is going to leave you matted and dirty.  So here is my question for today: what are you going to do with this new insight?  Are you going to continue on doing things the way you may have been doing them, or are you going to tell those who want to push you around to simply "go away"?  There comes a time in everyone's life when they are going to have to answer this question for themselves.  I hope and pray that you are coming to that point in time when you are going to ask yourself if being a door mat is all that it's cracked up to be.

We all have value, and even though you may not have discovered this truth yet doesn't change the fact that you have value to the rest of humanity.  Your value begins with knowing who and what you are.  Those people who have not taken the time to get to know you are the same people who will try to wipe their feet on you.  They don't know any better, and they don't know any better because they really don't have a clue as to who they really are.  I guess you have to give them a little benefit of the doubt, but let's face it, people like that often refuse to change.  Don't become one of those.  Take some time and come to a firm conclusion of your worth.  Stand tall and proud and refuse to be anyone's doormat.  It may cause friction in the interim, but rest assured when the dust settles you will be the one who is victorious and those who want to trample on you will ultimately be the ones who get trampled upon.