What is self loyalty?

Self loyalty is an attitude which helps you stay true to yourself when asked to do something you don´t believe in.

You can stay true to yourself in various ways. You can do so by openly refusing cooperation. However that can come at a price you may not be willing to pay.

A more sophisticated approach is to offer an alternative. If this is not accepted and you think you just can´t risk the punishment and do need the reward, you are left with having to play ´the game´.

When once in this game, it becomes clear that you will have to do whatever it is you didn´t want to: you will have to make a choice. When you go along even though it feels bad to do so, you are heading towards abandoning self loyalty.

However, and this is what makes self loyalty such a complex concept: if you know that doing what you don´t want to do, gets you something that is worth more than what you try to defend now by refusing, you are still loyal to yourself.

This means that self loyalty is determined by your own personal hierarchy of values, beliefs, opportunities and expectations and your of course: your perception of loyalty.

Staying loyal to yourself when challenged to abandon what you believe in, starts with feeling you are worth it and have enough power to do so. This is difficult because we are taught that it is good to put aside our own ideas when powerful others want their way.

Maintaining self loyalty means having the drive and guts to defend and fight for the conditions that allow you to do what you feel you need to do.

Self loyalty in today's world looks like a luxury but is in fact a necessity when we consider happiness and feeling good about yourself, essential.

How self loyalty drives behavior, varies per person but it definitely brings a sense of dignity when you manage to obtain it. When dignity helps us in feeling better about ourselves self loyalty is a concept that deserves thinking about.