Learning to Love Yourself
The hardest thing to learn is to love yourself and I get why.
You’re with yourself 24/7. You hear everything you think and feel everything you feel with no filter. Seeing and understanding all the good other people may see in you seems impossible. You can’t grasp the idea because you’re too close to yourself.
Well, I want to talk about a few truths meant to help you get out of your own way and, hopefully, bring you closer to self-love.
You are not your mistakes. Constantly dwelling on how you may have messed things up in the past is a form of psychic self-harm that is all too common. Gaining forgiveness from another is often so much easier than forgiving ourselves. Learn from your mistakes, do your best not to repeat them, and don’t let them define you.
Things can’t love you back. Stuff is great. I like stuff. I collect comics, play video games, and have an increasingly unhealthy obsession with clothes. However, if I’m feeling low one day, I have to remind myself that more stuff won’t make me happier. In the end, while a great collection may be rewarding in its own right, I know that it’s a one-way street. The new shiny thing that I want won’t lift me up for long.
No one is perfect, and that’s OK. It seems really obvious and cliché. Obviously, no one can be perfect. We all have flaws, foibles, and things we can improve upon, but it is hard for us to see past our flaws especially when all we see is someone else’s highlight reel.
The next time you feel overwhelmed, try using those three statements and see how you feel afterward.