Loving yourself is a grueling, unnerving process that many teenagers attempt to go through. Falling in love with what makes you you can be painful; it can be lonely; and it can be the single hardest thing you’ve had to do. Whether it’s struggling to find encouragement when you know others don’t like you and your personality; or if others persistently mock your insecurities; or comparing yourself to others is all that seems to haunt your thoughts; or if it’s not fitting in with society’s usual conception and standards of beauty; or not feeling good enough for yourself or the world; or just plain being afraid. It’s something every person wrestling with their own self-image and self-worth goes through, and it’s completely normal to feel that way.
But there are a number of upsides to this vigorous journey that make it gratifying and gradely, and here are just some of the reasons why you should love yourself before anyone else:
- Confidence is something grasped while learning to loving yourself, and it’s one of the best qualities you can bring to the table, whether it is in a parental, romantic, platonic or employee relationship. by demonstrating your confidence, you can assert your role in society (and potentially attract others to you, as well).
- If you lie to yourself by claiming that you are words that just are not true, such as useless or ugly, you cannot expect others to give you their complete and total honesty to you. Trust yourself, trust others; that’s all there is to it.
- Your strength that you possessed during this process will show. You’ll be able to persevere through any situation you encounter with, not a flawless maneuver, but one that is graceful. That isn’t to say that you won’t go through any bad times, such as losing a relative. It just means you will have gathered so much courage and toughness to be able to endure most things you come across as you mature and live. You can’t prevent these things either. C’est la vie, right?
- Sometimes you have to let go of past relationships, whether they were toxic or not, to release new ambitions and qualities about you that you never knew were suppressed before. For example, I was in an on-and-off relationship with a guy whom I believed to be the guy of my dreams. However, long story short, he led me on, broke my heart and didn’t give me a chance to grow. Since moving on from him, I have learned a number of things about myself, like that I can be a bit high-maintenance at times and that I won’t let anyone stop me from voicing what I think is right, two qualities I love about myself and use to my advantage. Examine your past relationships; see what went wrong, and go from there.
- Love yourself so you know what you as a wonderful, resilient human being deserve! A romantic relationship doesn’t define your self-worth; only you have the power to do so. And trust me, it’s much more than you think. As Emily Strola said in her article on the Huffington Post, “As you love yourself you will realize what you deserve and create your own sense and definition of love.”
Only you can pull yourself out of the void of uncertainties and self-doubt. Don’t let people take advantage of you when you are feeling insecure; discovering and loving yourself is also a guaranteed lesson on defending yourself and your beliefs.
Although it can be one of the most difficult stages of someone’s life, the weeks, months, years you spend learning to love yourself could be the years you wouldn’t trade for the world.
