Lately a cliché has taken over: “Love yourself!” Fine — but what is “loving yourself”? How are we supposed to love ourselves? Give ourselves a pat on the head?
Many of us are deeply confused about what love actually is. Many of us were taught that love means being jealous, possessive and controlling — not letting the person we love so much as glance at anyone else. If that’s how we’re going to love ourselves, heaven help us. It would only do damage. Don’t even go there.
So What Is Loving Yourself, Really?
When you see a really cute cat, a beautiful baby, or smell a sweet-scented flower, what kind of love do you feel?
Even when the cat turns its back and walks off, the baby wets its nappy, or the flower wilts in autumn, you keep loving them, don’t you? There you go! Now feel that same love for yourself. Copy and paste that feeling exactly. Sometimes you turn your back on life too; sometimes you get grumpy like a baby; sometimes you wilt with unhappiness. But keep loving yourself in spite of all that. If even a cat or a flower deserves it, you deserve it many times over.
You may not be exactly the way you’d like to be. You may not be the weight, the looks, the character or the level of success you want. You don’t need to be wonderful and flawless to love yourself. But you very much need to love yourself to become wonderful.
Is there anything stopping you from taking the first step today and saying, “You know what — I love myself”? You’re simply going to give yourself the same feelings and the same importance you give to a flower, a cat or a baby. You don’t need anything else for that. All it takes is a decision. Decide now.
Do you intend to love yourself?
Come on — let today be different. Don’t wait for a holiday for everyone to celebrate; create your own celebration inside you. Today, love yourself, care about yourself, value yourself.
And see what beautiful things life begins to offer you tomorrow…