Radical Self-Love: Week 3

Self-Worth is the Antidote

Welcome to Week 3 of the Radical Self-Love Challenge.

Week 1 brought us into the sacred ground of Self-Acceptance—the quiet revolution of embracing every part of yourself, especially the ones you once tried to outrun.

Week 2 ignited the fire of Self-Expression—your permission slip to show up, speak up, and be seen in your wholeness.

And now, we arrive at the foundation beneath it all: Self-Worth.

This isn’t surface-level work.
This is soul excavation.
Because without Self-Worth, everything collapses under the weight of seeking.

⸻

The Moment That Changed Everything

It was 2021–I’ll never forget sitting on the beach after one of the hardest breakups of my life.

I was deep in my abandonment wounds. Hurting. Spinning. Blaming her for breaking my heart.

But as the waves moved in and the silence wrapped around me, something cracked wide open:

It wasn’t her who broke my heart.
It was me.
Because I didn’t love myself enough to stand in my worth.
I abandoned myself before anyone else did.

That realization didn’t just sting—it shattered me.

But it also saved me.

That moment became the catalyst for the deepest healing I’ve ever known. A turning point that forced me to rebuild from the inside out—not through performance, not through external love, but through radical self-worth.

Because here’s the truth most people don’t want to say:

Self-Worth is the antidote.
To abandonment.
To heartbreak.
To overgiving.
To staying in rooms you’ve outgrown.
To shrinking in the face of love and calling it humility.

Once you remember your worth, you stop settling for the bare minimum and start reclaiming the life you were always worthy of.

The Pulse of Self-Worth

Self-worth is not something you hustle for.
It’s not a reward for perfection, productivity, or pleasing others.
It’s the deep knowing that you are valuable just as you are—before the performance, behind the mask, beneath the expectations.

When you remember your worth, you stop betraying yourself for belonging.
You stop asking for scraps when your soul was made for the feast.
You stop giving people discounts on access to your magic.

This is the week we return to the truth:
You are not here to earn your worth.
You are here to embody it.

⸻

The Lie of External Validation

Let’s be real: we’ve all been trained to chase approval.
Gold stars. Blue checks. Nods of validation from people who don’t even know our name.
But external validation is a sugar high—it fades fast and leaves you hungry for more.

True worth lives within.
And when you anchor into that?
You stop asking the world to reflect something you haven’t yet owned.

Your worth doesn’t rise and fall with opinions.
It was written into your being before you ever spoke your first word.

⸻

Boundaries: The Language of Worth

Every time you honor your boundaries, you tell the world:
“My peace matters.”
“My energy is sacred.”
“My presence is not free.”

Boundaries are not walls.
They are bridges back to yourself.
They are declarations of what you will no longer tolerate—not out of bitterness, but out of reverence for who you are becoming.

If you’ve been bending, breaking, or betraying your own limits to make others comfortable, this is your invitation to reclaim the line.

The Link Between Worth and Belief

You cannot believe in your future if you don’t believe in your value.

Self-worth is the root system.
Self-belief is the tree.

When your worth is shaky, you play small. You defer. You self-sabotage.
But when your worth is rooted, your dreams no longer feel like fantasies—they feel like birthrights.

So this week, we begin again—grounded in the knowing:
I am worthy of more.

This Week’s Practices

I.  Write a Self Love Letter
 
1. Find a quiet space and sit down with a pen and paper or your journal.

2. Write a letter to yourself as if you were writing to someone you love deeply—someone you would never let down or criticize.

3. In this letter, express everything you admire about yourself. Speak to your strengths, your courage, your resilience, your beauty, your creativity.

4. Sign the letter with love, acknowledging that you are worthy of everything you desire and more.

5. Read it to yourself every night this week. 

II. Practice Saying “No”

Every “no” rooted in truth is a “yes” to your worth.
This week, stop abandoning yourself to keep the peace. Say no—cleanly, clearly, without apology.

Reflection prompt:
Where have I been betraying myself in the name of being liked?
What does honoring my no unlock for me this week?

III. Reinforce a Boundary
Pick one. The one you’ve been avoiding. The one that makes your voice shake.
Name it. Own it. Enforce it.

Reflection prompt:
What boundary have I allowed to blur—and how would reclaiming it change everything?

⸻

Go Deeper

Les Brown once said,
“You must be willing to go after your dreams with everything you have, because your self-worth is the foundation of your ability to achieve.”

Les didn’t just speak motivation—he lived it. A man once labeled “ mentally retarded,” who rose to ignite millions, not because the world believed in him—but because he chose to believe in himself.

And then there’s Dr. Tracy Butler, a clinical psychologist who breaks it down in one of the most potent TED Talks on value:
Self-worth is not a feeling. It’s a choice.
A conscious decision to stop outsourcing your value.
To stop measuring your worth by comparison.
To stop waiting for someone to tell you you’re enough.

Dr. Butler reminds us:
You are not your past.
You are your potential.
And that potential only activates when you stop performing for love and start living from love.

⸻

Your Invitation

If this post resonated with you—if it opened something inside, stirred a deeper truth, or helped you recognize the power in standing in your worth—let me know where you’re at. Reflect. Share. This is a space for real conversations, and I’d love to hear how you’re moving through this journey.

This week, we’ve anchored into the truth that your worth isn’t something to earn—it’s something to remember. It’s always been there. It’s just waiting for you to stand in it, unapologetically. When you realize that you’re enough, you start to show up differently—in your life, in your relationships, and in the world around you.

Next week, we’re diving into Self-Forgiveness:
The process of releasing guilt, shame, and self-blame so your past no longer defines your future. It’s restoring your right to begin again—with love.

If you feel called to support this work—this space devoted to truth, self-love, and growth—you can do so by becoming a paid subscriber.

Your support keeps this journey focused, ad-free, and rooted in 
what matters most: LOVE. 

This is the love that you are.

With love,
~Branden