Love in itself is an especially tricky concept to grasp, but that doesn't mean a few pointers can't be given. The biggest thing I heard about love in general is the old saying that you must love yourself before you can love another. I thought this was hogwash before I actually settled down and looked at how I saw things. Now I've come to realize it actually holds some weight to it. Just to be clear this doesn't just necessarily pertain to romantic love. This can apply to the love you might show a family member or a really close friend.
How can you give someone love if you don't even know what it feels like?
A lot of people can say, "oh you can feel love without loving yourself," yes you can, but do you really understand it at that point? Love is meant to be a mutual act between humans. Love was given to us by God to show to others, but lets put it this way. You're back in kindergarten and you want to give your classmates some of your animal crackers (I know this is in no way realistic. We all love our animal crackers way too much, but roll with it). So, you go to give your classmates some animal crackers, then you realize,"oh! I don't have any animal crackers even for me! What am I going to do?!" Then you ponder a reasonable solution which would seem to be go get some freakin' animal crackers, but instead you think giving them crayons would work instead. So long story short, if you tell your classmates you're going to give them animal crackers: give them animal crackers, and don't try to substitute those awesome and sweet treats for something crappy and waxy.
How do I know that I even love myself?
Well, thats something I guess we all wonder from time to time, but it is still a relatively easy diagnosis. How often do you look into the mirror and like what you see? Not in a conceited way, but you're just... content... with yourself. If the answer is "not that often," maybe it's time to look at why that's the case. I wish I could give a 3-step remedy to help you love yourself, but I can't. Trust me; if I knew I would use it everyday. But, we're all different and those of us who struggle with loving ourselves struggle for different reasons. I can tell you mine was the constant reminder of my past that I played in my head from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep, but again, my struggles might be different than yours. Sometimes you have to just find your identity in the One who made you and listen to His voice. You are loved. You are wanted. Maybe not by the world, but by the Maker of this world. Which brings me to my last point.
A Few Ways to Love Yourself
Some ways work for some people, but theres always one person we can run to when we feel like we can't even love ourselves. The One who IS love. You can always rest assured that whenever you feel like you can't even love yourself, He will love you and pour into you because THAT'S WHO HE IS. He might do this by telling you to go on an adventure, maybe it's a shopping spree, maybe it's just going to the range and letting off a few rounds. The idea is, He knows how to take care of you and He will help you to take care of yourself. The way to love yourself is to let Love in. Lean into Love. Go ask the teacher for animal crackers.
