Self Respect AND Happiness?

Which is more important- happiness or self-respect? I find this question a bit hard to answer. Both answers are extremely important and valuable in a person’s life. They both a equally important and should both be a top value in a person’s life. They are not just separate answers either. They both go hand in hand. If you respect yourself then you will understand you need happiness. If you are happy then you are respecting yourself. Happiness in my life makes everything around me better. If I am happy I enjoy things more, I am motivated to do things, and I am carefree. And that is a big deal because it gives me a sense of freedom. Being happy makes you feel weightless and carefree. Not worrying about much but caring for the things that need attention. Being happy is enjoying what you love and sharing that joy with others around you. I believe when you are happy, you should spread it around 
Having self respect is a part of being happy. Everybody in life wants to always be happy. When you are allowing yourself to enjoy life and be happy you are respecting yourself. As Dr. Wayne Dyer says “The best thing to give…to yourself, respect….” And I believe this is true. If you have self respect than happiness is right there beside you. Self Respect means a lot of things. It shows the confidence in yourself and what you believe in. It is staying true and honest with yourself.
In Reading Lolita in Tehran, Nafisi says “My generation had tasted individual freedom and lost it; no matter how painful the loss…..But what did this new generation have to safeguard them…Like Catherine’s, their desires, their yearnings, their urges to express themselves, were manifested in bizarre ways. As she is shunned by her father, manipulated by her aunt and finally deserted by her suitor…to stand up to each and every one of them-not in their way but in her own, quietly and humbly… she maintains her own style of dealing with events and with people.” This statement that is in the book reflects how people respect themselves or make themselves happy. We all approach things in a different way. One person’s way of being happy may be how another person feels happiness is and that goes along with self respect.
All in all, I believe respecting yourself leads to being happy or promoting happiness. We all find what makes us happy and by doing what makes us happy is respecting who we are. I love this quote by E.E. Cummings about self worth. We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.