Why you Need to Love Yourself First (including my personal story)

When I started to think about self-love for the first time, I wasn't quite sure what it includes. How do we love ourselves and if we don't, what is the cause?

As I dug deep down into my past, I tried to figure out where my lack of self-love came from. I came from a low-income family which was full of drama, alcoholism and problems. I was certainly not the only going through this type of life but as a child, I saw it differently. I felt like there is something wrong with me, especially when I saw other kids from the neighborhood being happy and supported by their parents.

Those were the moments where the lack of self-love started to grow since I didn't feel good enough and I let my surrounding and my present circumstances define my value. I was too young to understand the system.

This reflected on my intimate relationships where I let men treat me any type of way. Instead of walking away, I was willing to live it all over again. It reflected on the way how I treated my body, with junk food and zero exercise. I didn't believe in myself, I taught I will never accomplish any significant things in my life. All this was a result of a bad relationship with myself.

The breaking point of this situation began the moment when the pain I felt was too big to ignore it. I kept asking myself, "Is this all there is?" "Is this the reason why was I born? To live this type of life?"

Huge dissatisfaction and pain helped me in actually seeing the truth. I began to understand that I am in charge and that if I was to change my life, I have to change my thinking and adjust my self-belief. I began to read a lot, I did different exercise as gratitude, writing my 10-year vision, I named all those things I love about myself every day while looking into a mirror, I kept telling myself that I love myself. At first, it was hard. I didn't believe it. But you know how it goes? Practice makes it perfect.

Another test came when I had to let others know that I won't tolerate certain behaviors anymore. I stopped tolerating gossips and little mind and became very selective about people who I let into my life. Trust me when I tell you, only a few deserve it.

Look, loving yourself is the most important things in the world for one simple reason. I know that many of you here want to accomplish great things, you want to help your parents or children to live a better life. I get it. But before anything else, you need to rebuild yourself first. Only when you feel strong, confident and fulfilled you are able to provide the same for those you love. Self-love isn't about being selfish or greedy. It is a way of respecting yourself and taking care of yourself.

I would love to hear your thoughts on self-love so I will very much appreciate any comments. Also, if you want to know different exercise I used while rebuilding my self-love, I will be more than happy to put together a little manual and what helped me on this journey.

Thank you for reading. Please don't forget to comment, upvote and follow me for more powerful content.