Before you love someone else….make sure your love yourself
Many people think that loving yourself is selfish, but it is the best way to love others. By practicing self-love, you learn to appreciate yourself and your time. You learn to set boundaries and that results in saying no to people easier and therefore restores the balance. If you love yourself enough you experience an inner happiness and that can be the foundation of a full life. Some go as far as to say through self-love you find true love.
However, there are a few ways in which you think you love yourself, but in actual fact, you are living in an illusion:
- If you shop too much or treat yourself the entire time and spend too much money, guess what? You don’t love yourself; you are merely validating your addiction. You feel that the over-indulgence led to feelings of isolations, self-disgust, desperation and even low self-esteem. Stop saying to yourself: “It’s the one thing I enjoy.” “I’m such a good person and I help others all day long, so I deserve this.” This is merely a distraction. The solution would be to determine long-term upliftment and what will keep your soul happy.
- We were taught to love others, to bend over backward for other people and go the extra mile for others, not necessarily expecting anything in return. We think that by giving all our love to others, we will be worthy of their love. We should know who we are first and have inner peace with our situation. You are worth more than you think you are and think you deserve. Love who you are by accepting who you are.
- You think that nothing will change when you love yourself. This is not true. The entire world changes around you when you love yourself. You will have a better family life and your kids will adore you. If your children see how you love yourself, they will learn to love themselves because they try to copy your behavior etc.
Love yourself as a package. Love the good feelings and have the courage to accept the bad feelings without judgment. When you love yourself, nurture yourself and hold yourself through bad times. Loving yourself is not something that comes overnight. No, it takes practice. You have to be willing to pick yourself up when life puts you down. Remind yourself how strong you are. You should be your own best friend.