Maybe it was a relationship. Maybe your parents were cruel to you as a child, or perhaps you were bullied in school. Whatever it was that made you believe you aren't enough...I'm sorry. And I want you to know, all those nasty things you think about yourself, they aren't true, and they don't deserve your attention anymore.

I want you to know that you have so much more power than you give yourself credit for. Self-doubt is strongest when it's enabled. Rejection, defeat, disappointment, abandonment, mistakes...those are all temporary things that hit our self-image hard. As big as they may feel in the grieving process, they are not meant to stay with you. They are merely experiences in your life. And they don't deserve the power to dictate how you feel about yourself. No matter how big or bad or hard they were.

The worst thing about having low self-esteem is that you succumb to the cycle of surrounding yourself with less than you deserve. You spend time with people that don't value you, you allow yourself to be taken advantage of, you don't pursue the things you want with all your heart and you give everything around you the authority to dictate how you feel.

Why? Because you don't feel worthy and you don't value yourself. So you allow yourself to be mistreated and you allow yourself to stay stuck in the cycle.

Please, stop doing this.You have the power to change anything you don't like about your life. And even more than that, you deserve a life and a self-image that you feel good about. I promise, if you listen to what I'm about to tell you, you will notice a change in how you feel, your happiness and your life as a whole.

Stop giving the wrong people your time. No more doing favors for people who don't appreciate you. Don't give yourself to people who don't value you and make you feel bad. If it doesn't feel wonderful, it's not for you. Do not spend another second wasting your time exhausting yourself to please the very people who make you question your worth. People, inevitably, will hurt you, intentionally and unintentionally. Stop messing with the ones who repeatedly disappoint you because they know you will forgive them. I understand it's hard to let go of people, and at first, you're going to feel guilty. But then you're going to feel better.

Invest in your happiness. Listen to uplifting music, motivational speeches, say positive self-affirmations. Write down your strengths. Say them out loud. Be around people who are happy and encouraging. Explore the things you are passionate about or enjoy doing. Volunteer, you will be amazed at how it can change your life. All of the things that make you legitimately feel good, invest in them.

Believe that things can change. Do you feel bad because you're broke? What can you sacrifice to save money? Do you hate your reflection? Go to the gym, eat healthy and give yourself some time. Are you lonely? join groups, take a class...try to be more social. You will meet better people than the ones who made you feel bad, I promise. Do you feel as if you aren't smart? That's fine, read more. Research more. Don't have anyone to go home to? Good. Save that for the day you can enter a relationship you deserve because the day will come.

Change is scary, but it doesn't matter how small you start. One small positive change will lead to another. Create chances to be proud of yourself. Anything you want to be, you can. You just have to take the steps in that direction.

I absolutely hate this about life, but the truth is, no one is going to love you enough to fix the way you see yourself. Someone can hate enough to affect how you view you, but infuriatingly so, it doesn't work the other way around. If you don't give yourself everything, you are going to settle for so much less than you deserve. YOU have to be the one to raise the bar for yourself. You have to decide where to spend your time and what has power over your feelings.

It is my hope that you chose to love yourself. That you treat yourself the way you would treat the person you love the most.

Start being the one to shower yourself in love. Start being the person who is responsible for making you happy. Nurture yourself...because once you do you will be amazed at how good you feel. And you won't let yourself close to the things that make you feel bad. You'll look up one day and realize you have everything you wanted because you chose to give it to yourself, and you refused to settle for anything less.