Do You Love Yourself?

I used to think I did, before my counselor called me on it one day. She said, “I don’t even think you like yourself, let alone, love yourself.”

“What the hell?!” I thought as we walked around the square of my hometown. I’d just gotten finished with my sob story about how I felt like my relationship wasn’t doing so hot, and how badly I missed my grandfather after his passing, because he was the only man I ever truly felt I could trust.

“Now, she’s hitting me with this shit?!”

I didn’t take it all that well, but I did everything I could to hide my reaction from her.

I went home and vigorously Googled everything I could on self-love. I needed to understand how all of these lovely coping mechanisms that I’d been using for so long weren’t the same thing as this “self-love” stuff that I was just told I didn’t have.

Ahhhh, and then I came across the article that changed everything. It said that self-love was actually demonstrated in how you felt about yourself when you didn’t get it all just right.

When you gained the 15lbs.

When you snapped on your children.

When you went through another bad breakup.

When you lost your job.

When you checked your dwindling bank account.

Self-love is how you felt about yourself when you weren’t performing so well.

That’s when I finally realized I didn’t love myself at all. I only performed. And I eagerly awaited the compliments of other people to keep me afloat.

Next week, I’ll be sharing the tips I used to build a better relationship with myself. But for now, does any of this ring true for you?