As I was scrolling through Twitter the other day, I came across a tweet that made me think a lot about how I was living my life. As many know, to find posts like this is a rare occurrence, especially considering the amount of dumb jokes and ridiculous memes that have been plaguing social media lately.

“Life is far too short not to fall in love with yourself. Even if you don’t believe it, it’s ridiculously fun to act like you think you’re the human embodiment of perfection.”

Now, I understand that this tweet may go a bit too far, as there is a fine line between confidence and narcissism. However, it made me think about how insecure our society has gotten. We constantly worry about what everyone else thinks about our looks, profession, possessions, style… but why? Why do we feel the need to criticize everything and everyone?

As I thought more about this, I realized that I spend far too much of my life worrying about what others think rather than what I think of myself. If we waste all of our time and energy on how others view us, we leave no room for self-empowerment. I only started to realize this after I began hanging out with my housemates, each of which are already incredibly empowered and were able to share that feeling with me. I cannot thank them enough for showing me what it’s like to feel this kind of love and confidence in myself.

An example: I was sitting on my bed the other day when I started thinking about the people in my life: friends, family, boys (a common trifecta of anxiety). I caught myself falling into my self-conscious tendencies, questioning why people hang out with me. Now, normally this kind of self-reflection would send me into a full-on spiral. However, as soon as I caught myself, I consciously stopped and instead said “oh, I know why people hang out with me. It’s because I’m wonderful, hot, and hilarious.” Even though I may not have believed it right then, the more I said it to myself, the more confident I became.

A year ago, I would have been so uncomfortable by this kind of positive self-talk. But I am starting to realize that waiting for someone to love you is not the way to live. It is said that you can’t find love until you start to love yourself, and life is far too short not to fall in love with yourself. After that, everything else falls into line.

So rock that dress. Yes, you look bomb in those jeans. That new haircut is going to look awesome. Do what you want, and don’t let anyone else’s views or opinions change how you think of yourself.