Loving Another, Respecting Yourself, and Forgiveness

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Forgive the lack of a proper introduction for this post, as I want to get directly to the point. Instead of an introduction, enjoy this made-up and funny word. Boppabooie. Now, to the actual point of this post. In my recent blogs I have talked about forgiving yourself in relation to failed relationships, whether they be romantic or otherwise. I stated that it is not always possible to get a person to forgive you, and this remains true. However, something recently came up in my life that presented a similar situation that I had previously, and I learned something new in said experience. While it is of utmost importance to forgive yourself, it is also important to respect respect yourself.
 

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 What I mean by this is simple. I don't mean for one to go around and say "Ermagerd look at how awesome I am. I respect myself and my rippling muscles and hot bod. Look at me. I am important." This is the opposite of respecting oneself. This is actually disrespecting oneself. This is so because, by saying how important you are, your importance is automatically diminished in the eyes of others. I don't know about you, but when someone acts all "high and mighty", so to speak, I immediately diminish them in my mind. It is almost reflexive. Generally, and this is a random thought, people that are too outwardly "respectful" of themselves really do not respect themselves at all and need constant confirmation from others that they are indeed an important individual.
    This is exactly my point. One should not need approval from others to know that they are important. This is not to say that approval from others is not nice, but it is not needed. You need to respect yourself and seek approval from yourself. Consider this. In the terribly worded and stereo-typical example above, I used a "meathead over confident body builder" as an example of poor self respect. If this body builder was getting muscle to be noticed and approved by others, he is, in my opinion, not respecting himself at all. He could instead get muscle and get more fit to better improve himself for no one but himself. I believe that this body builder would ultimately be a happier person, because he could be comfortable in his own skin and know that he is doing what he needs or wants to be doing.

     This being said, it is important to know when to use this self respect. Without getting into detail, as my life is personal in nature (Go figure. It's my personal life), I recently made a "boo boo" with one of my friends. I said something to this person and they took it a totally different way than I meant it. This person has ceased communication with me for an undetermined amount of time and has bid me to wait for them to contact me first, should any communication of any kind occur in the future.

    As one of my best friends, having this person do this to me is a bitter pill to swallow. However, I need to respect myself. I apologized (probably too much), attempted to explain my total and utter ignorance of why I upset them (I know now. Live and learn, right?), and tried as best I could given the circumstances. Now, there is nothing I can do. I am currently given two choices. I could A) Mope around for awhile and be depressed or B) Respect myself, realize that I did my best, realize that it is not the end of the world if this friend does not talk to me (even if it sucks a lot), and keep living my life. Personally, I choose option B. Life is too short to mope about because of some silly spat that I, or perhaps my friend and I, will probably laugh about in the future. Instead of moping, I'll do what I know I love. I will write. I will sing. I will pet my freakishly soft poodle. And, excuse the language, but damn it. I will respect myself.