For many young adults, knowing your self-worth and loving yourself can be difficult. Having the ability to view yourself as your family and friends see you is hard, because, for many of us, we are our own worst critics. It is difficult to admit that we bend over backwards for those who at the end of the day would absolutely never do the same for us. We all carry some baggage that no one knows about. You just live with it. You go through things you never thought you’d go through in your life, but here you are fighting like hell to get where you know you need to truly be at in life. As the days go by, you wonder where did it all really go wrong? How did it get to this point? Will I ever know where I really stand with those in my life? Will I ever know what it’s like to love myself? Questions arise every single day within yourself to the point where it eats you alive.

Trust me, I will tell you this, someday when you realize that you are worth it and that you do matter more than you’ll ever know, so much weight will be lifted off your shoulders. Why? Because from then on, you will be able to decide what’s best for yourself and not put things off any longer. For example, in any type of toxic relationship that you’re in, you may feel like your feelings are invalid to that person, yet you love them more than anything in the world. You let it slide constantly and hope it won’t happen the next time, but it never changes. I’ve had people tell me they put up with someone they loved for years until they finally decided to let go. It was the hardest damn thing they ever did and it was for me, too. It was not something I myself ever wanted, and it kills me. But truth be told: is it worth letting yourself hit rock bottom by staying in that type of situation or relationship if nothing ever changes while you’re putting in 110 percent and he/she puts in about 10 percent? It’s exhausting and, in a way, it’s quite devastating.

Learning to love yourself and knowing who you are within yourself is so important. Relying on others is setting yourself up for disappointment at times. Think about it. Other ways to continue always keeping yourself intact is motivation and effort. If you feel unhealthy about your body, work out if that’s best for you. Exercise is a pain sometimes, but afterwards it feels so refreshing and you feel good about yourself. All in all, you just have to find ways to be confident about yourself and show the world the good in you. There is absolutely nothing wrong in ever doing what’s best for you. It isn’t always considered a selfish thing.

Mental health is just as important as physical health. It’s also important to keep having a healthy mindset for yourself. If you get angry, write out your thoughts or go play a sport that helps let out your anger in healthy way. Only you, yourself, will know what works for you.