Name Your Price

Ever stop and wonder how much your integrity and authentic self is worth to you?

In this I mean, is there a price you are willing to pay in order to maintain physical security or comfort?  This could be your house, your lifestyle, your relationship, your family… physical comfort in the way you define it.  How much is that worth to you?  How much of yourself are you willing to sell to maintain that comfort?

Do we all have a price?  Is there a point where we are willing to give ourselves or sell ourselves because we fear the risk or the outcome?

These questions arise as I read through books and work through the happenings of my life.  Do I have a price?  Is my physical comfort more important to me than… a trusting relationship?  Personal integrity?  Unconditional love?  Honesty?  Would I sell any of these principles or parts of myself in order to keep my house, my significant other, my family, or my position in society?  My job?

Fear is a strong motivator.  For many, the fear of the loss of that physical security is worth the cost of their principles, character and integrity.  It is better to choose the Devil you know than take a risk with the devil you don’t, no?

And yet, it is that risk… that  staying true to self and that realization that our values and principles are priceless that are key.  We might maintain our physical security if we sell these or other parts of our true selves, but what kind of shell do we become?  Can we respect ourselves or recognize our own value if we are willing to put that physical security above our personal integrity?

This post is more about questions than answers as I work through the challenges that I face in my own life.  These challenges are different as I live true to my principles.  I refuse to live in a relationship that doesn’t involve complete trust and honesty – to do  so would be disrespecting myself and my partner.  I would rather be alone than not have that trust in my life or in my house.  Physical security can be found in so many places… trust and honor and respect and integrity… those are so much more difficult to gain once lost… and aspects of character that I maintain.  These are not prices I am wiling to pay…

Yet do I have a price?

Or is the challenge I face now more about the intangible and the lines between personal accountability and taking responsibility for the choices of others…

*sigh*

And I will leave that one for another post…Until then, do we all have a price?  What is your price?  How much of yourself are you willing to sell in order to maintain  your physical security?  How much are you willing to sell to keep your lifestyle, your marriage, your family, your house, relationship… those things that you need to feel secure?