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What are you currently calling “good enough”?
Low standards rarely just appear from nowhere. For some of us, it was a household where love felt conditional and affection had to be earned and withdrawing it was used as punishment.
So we learned to be grateful for the smallest kindnesses. We learned to make ourselves smaller so other people could stay comfortable. We learned to ask for less so we wouldn’t be disappointed. We chose people who couldn’t fully show up and mistake the chase, the almost, the potential for the real thing. We learned to celebrate even when the table is set with crumbs and call it a meal in our relationships, workplace etc.
This is your permission slip to STOP!
Bare minimum looks like:
- People who only call when they need something
- Partners who do the least and expect the most gratitude for it
- Friends who are inconsistent but always have an excuse
- Employers who take more than they give and call it “opportunity”
- Anyone who makes you feel like your needs are an inconvenience
To be clear, “princess treatment” is not about being spoiled, demanding, or unrealistic. It’s about being treated with consistency, care, and respect. It’s about people showing up for you the way you show up for them.
Princess treatment looks like:
- People who keep their word without needing to be chased
- Friends who check on you when you go quiet, not just when you’re fun
- Partners who prioritize you without it being a grand gesture more like a regular Tuesday habit
- Environments where you can be honest without walking on eggshells
- Workplaces that value your time, not just your output
Imagine a world where princess treatment is bare minimum. The problem is that it can feel like a lot when you’ve been running on so little.
The ultimate tip is to pick one area of your life and raise your standards baseline.
A new standard is uncomfortable at first because it requires you to tolerate the discomfort of disappointing people who benefited from your old self.
People will call you changed. They’ll say you’re being difficult. They’ll miss the version of you that asked for less.
Let them miss the old YOU!
A few things to remember when you’re holding your new standards:
- Saying your needs out loud is not the same as being demanding. You are allowed to communicate what you need.
- Someone’s inability to meet your standard is not proof that your standard is wrong. It’s just information about that person.
- You don’t have to explain your standards to everyone. You just have to live by them.
You were never asking for too much. You were asking the wrong people, or asking from a place that had already accepted “no” before the question was even asked.
Reset your standards in the way you treat yourself, talk to yourself, and allow your time and energy to be spent.
The princess treatment starts with you deciding you deserve it. Everything else follows.
You are not too much.
You have just been around too little, there’s a difference.