I can only paraphrase this from an article I read years ago in Southern Living Magazine, of all places. The article was about an elderly woman who worked as a laundress her whole life and literally lived in a shack. She made some phenomenally huge monetary donation to endow a college scholarship. She had saved so much money and was satisfied with so little. Amazing, when America is in consumer debt up to its eyeballs.
She said
If you want to feel proud of yourself, do something that you can be proud of.
So simple and profound. When things get hard and I get lazy, I remind myself that my service to others blesses me the most. You really can’t get self respect any other way.
I hope my children learn this and the earlier the better – to feel good you don’t need to shop or eat or compare yourself to others. Do something worthwhile and you will feel good without hurting yourself or anyone else.