There are important aspects of life. Things that we've always been taught and have always felt we need to have. But no one really talks about self-love.
We grow up being told to love others and to spread kindness, which is so important and so necessary, but no one ever tells you to love yourself and to accept the little flaws that start to pester at your thoughts once you start growing up. No one ever really tells you that you'll find things about yourself that you will truly dislike and that, sometimes, it will consume you. Once you start moving away from the stage of coloring outside the lines and running around chasing that boy on the playground without caring about how you look doing so, and gradually move towards the stages of making sure that every little thing you do is perfect and having someone point out a flaw that you never quite saw before, you start to question yourself. Once you start growing up and find out that society has actually made up rules and regulations in order for you to be considered good enough, you start to doubt yourself. At that age, you have no clue of what you're capable of, and you truly just want to be accepted. But in reality, the only thing that is stopping you from feeling good enough, is yourself.
Self-love is so important. I cannot stress how much it is needed and how much people need to be taught at a young age to encourage themselves along with encouraging others. We run ourselves dry making an effort to show love to others, but can't even show ourselves that same love in the first place. The standards that are set for girls and boys to achieve are incredibly wrong and sometimes even physically impossible. I do not want my daughter growing up and being told that she does not deserve the love she most definitely should receive just because her waist isn't the right size or her height isn't ideal or her nose isn't what others want it to look like, and I most certainly do not want my son growing up only to find out that he isn't enough if he doesn't meet the standards of a typical boy.
I used to shrink myself down and allow others to treat me like I was small, but eventually, I started to realize that I am powerful and I can move mountains, despite what others decide to label me.
Learn to conquer the misconceptions about your flaws that others have persuaded you to believe. Fall in love with your stretch marks that display a road map along your body and your freckles that are the embodiment of little stars and your bruises that look like the aftermath of the sun going down. You owe yourself the love that you will without a doubt give to everyone you meet, so along with spreading love throughout every vicinity you end up in, spread love within yourself, too.
"Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first." Beau Taplin
