Self-reliance is a mindset, an approach to life that can be adopted whether you live in a wilderness cabin or a “little box” in the suburbs. Self-reliance is about living a life in which you make decisions and opinions with primary respect to your own experience of the world. You trust yourself. You’re true to yourself. This doesn’t mean living in a void, it just means that we’re conscious about our relationship to the world and other people. It’s not rejecting external advice outright, but trusting ourselves enough to sift through which advice is worthy. We’re aware of the agendas of others, and don’t let them sway us from our self-determined path. Self-reliance doesn’t necessarily mean rejecting all established customs and values. It just means experimenting with them so we know if they work for us. It’s putting stock in our inner wisdom.
“It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself.” Abraham Lincoln
To have a high level of self-worth means having a favorable opinion or estimate of yourself. It means having unshakable faith in yourself and in your ability to follow through and get things done. It means feeling worthy of good things; feeling deserving of happiness, health, wealth, success and love no matter what difficulties you might face, disappointments you may experience, or what other people may say to you. It is unflinching. Self-esteem is fickle and can shift with the changing winds. However, this isn’t true for those people who have a high level of self-worth. A high degree of self-worth naturally enhances our levels of self-esteem, providing you with the confidence you need to follow through with your chosen decisions and actions. While this is wonderful and exciting news, I’m sure as you read this, you’re asking how we can rise to this level of self-worth? Worry not as to how we get to the top when first we must make the decision to start climbing.
The Wandering-Mind 