Self-respect sometimes sounds like a quiet no nobody else understands.

Choosing well for yourself often produces no applause. The decision to leave early, to decline the thing everyone wanted you to take, to stop a habit no one else could see was hurting you, tends to look unremarkable or even foolish from outside. Nobody sees the pressure you were resisting, so nobody can credit you for resisting it. The quietness is not a sign the decision was wrong.

If a no you are holding feels lonely, check whether you are looking for someone to confirm it before you can keep it. That confirmation may not come, and you can hold the line anyway. Write down the reason for yourself, somewhere you can return to it, so the decision has a witness even when other people do not understand.