Self-Love… What is it?

Self-love is defined as “love of self” or “regard for one’s own happiness and well-being.”

For each individual, self-love can have very different meanings. But, for each individual, it means taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

It means loving every piece of you – forgiving yourself, accepting your flaws, embracing your uniqueness.

Self-love is not something that comes easy to many of us. I personally have to work extremely hard at it and am only at the beginning. I still have a long way to go, but I know that this journey to truly love myself, and everything that I am, will all be worth it. I know that once I can obtain love for myself, then I can then truly love the right people/things the right way. 

I’m pretty cruel to myself. I always have been. But at this point in my life, I realize how important it is to love myself first, no matter what, before I can achieve more. I never put myself first, but I think it is a necessity (not to get confused with selfishness or narcissism).

I know that I will not be able to give my whole, true self to anyone — whether it be a romantic relationship, friendships, family members, etc., — without loving myself first.

I am the one I have to come home to at the end of a long day; I am always going to be there with myself. So why not love ourselves? No one can take that away from you. You are unique, you are special, and if you can’t love yourself before anyone or anything else, you are losing your own identity—which is what makes you unique and what makes you, you.

I want people to love me completely for everything I am. I want to be able to be myself. And if someone doesn’t like that, that’s okay, but that’s who I am. People who accept you for all that you are, are meant to be in your life.

I’ve spent too much of my life changing for other people and being what I thought people wanted me to be, but I just ended up getting screwed over and over again no matter what. So, now, here I am in my life and after 25 (almost 26) years have finally realized that I can’t keep treating myself so poorly or I will never be able to enjoy the life that I have been blessed with. I have put myself last so many times and in so many different situations, but I am coming to terms with myself and who I actually am as a person. Self-love is still very new to me, and I am still familiarizing myself with who I truly am. It’s a process.