Love yourself. You can’t love someone else if you don’t have love for yourself. Fill you cup before thinking about filling someone else’s cup.

Why?

Why do people say this as if it’s an easy thing to do? To me, it’s the hardest type of love.

We’re enamored by the emotions we receive and respond to others. The way their smiles light up our days. Their little quirks, even the annoying ones. The way they may look out for us the way we don’t consciously do ourselves. And we appreciate that. We’re loved. We love back. It validates our existence that another stole peers our way. We belong. We’re worth it.

And when we don’t have that validation, what then? Some can’t see what’s reflected in their mirror. The good qualities. The unimportant bad qualities that have been blown up. We can’t simply just say “I love you” and have that echoed back to our hearts and be accepted. It’s the hardest pill to swallow sometimes.

“I’m pretty enough.”
“I’m smart enough.”
“I’m somewhat funny.”
“I think I’m worth it.”
“I don’t think I deserve her.”
“I think think I’ll stay in the shadows.”
“I may be alone forever.”
We can love ourselves without being loved by others. We can love others and yet also not love ourselves. Because by loving others, we may start to see what’s good about ourselves through the reflection in their eyes.

Very few live this world alone completely.

 
And yeah, I’ll share it with you. Even if I wasn’t there firsthand, at least take my hand and squeeze. Let it all out. It’s a start.