You’ve probably heard the phrase “if you don’t love yourself, you can’t love others.” I personally don’t agree with this statement; I think you can love others while still working on loving yourself. Besides that, it brings other people into a very personal situation, and at times it can feel like you’re being pressured to do something. It’s because of this that I want to suggest three other reasons as to why you should love yourself, besides doing it so that you can love others.
Reason #1: The only true opinion about you that matters is yours. No one else can determine your worth but you. By loving yourself you realize that you are amazing just the way you are; you learn to accept and embrace all those parts you didn’t like, or that you weren’t particularly fond of. Loving yourself means that you are realizing your worth and how important you are.
Reason #2: You gain independence. By this I mean that you free yourself from seeking other people’s approval. You end up focusing more on what you can do to make yourself happier rather than focusing on what you can do to make others happier. You also learn to take care of yourself; this consists of self-care and knowing what your limits are. Overall, you learn how to improve yourself, and how to maintain healthy relationships.
Reason #3: You’ll feel more encouraged to achieve your goals. When you love yourself, you accept every part of you; this includes the good and the bad (such as flaws). By doing so, you encourage yourself to learn and grow from past mistakes, which often leads to you being able to successfully achieve your goals. Believing in yourself is the first step towards anything really, and when you love yourself, you learn to rely on yourself for encouragement and inspiration to do whatever it is you want to do.
I believe that self-love is incredibly important; you learn to embrace every part of you. This is important because once you do this, you’ll be like an unstoppable force. You’ll learn to improve from mistakes and to grow from experiences that were either pleasant or unpleasant. You will learn to take care of yourself, and you will be able to see how much worth you have (spoiler alert, it’s a lot). Also, do it for you. You are the person that should matter most in your life. Overall, self-love leads to improvement and growth, which means that you’ll be able to prosper in the ways that you have always wanted to.
