I know it sounds so cliché when people tell you how important it is to love yourself before you can ever love someone else. Believe me, I’ve heard it numerous of times from my mother, my best friends, my sister, and probably everyone else in the book. I’ve even told it to others a few times. But that never meant that I actually knew what it meant, and it never meant I practiced what I was preaching. Not until it came to the point where I didn’t have a choice. I guess you could call it rock bottom. At that point I didn’t know what to call it. I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that I was left to pick up the pieces of myself off the ground, get it together and figure out a way to still function in my everyday life.

This forced me to do a lot of work on myself, a lot of soul searching, it forced me to look at and examine all of my failed relationships, along with the flaws I have carried with me to this point in my life. Let me tell you, I learned a lot.

I learned I didn’t know how to love myself, I relied on the love of others. I relied on someone else being there when everything was wrong in my life and I didn’t know how to fix it. I relied on someone complimenting me and reminding me I was beautiful, even when I didn’t think so myself.

I need to be my first love. I need to be there for me. I need to be the person to fix my problems at the end of the day. I need to give myself the reassurance. I need to compliment myself. I need to know, every single day, that I am beautiful inside and out.

We all need to learn that it is us that creates the happiness we have within. No one else but ourselves.

You need to know it.

Don’t let someone define you. Don’t let the fact that whether someone in your life or not be the reason for your happiness or your sadness.

You need to find your own happiness. You we need to learn how to make ourselves happy.

If you are sitting, wondering, if you deserve more from the person in your life, let me tell you something, YOU DO.

You will never be able to give someone the full version of yourself until you have learned to put yourself first. You will never be able to love in the healthiest of ways until you know and understand the love that you need and deserve.

You should never question if the love you’re getting is enough. When it’s enough – as in real, pure, and genuine – you will know it.

You should never have to put all of the effort in for you and your S.O. for the relationship to work. You should never have to spend a night sobbing yourself to sleep wondering if you’re enough.

MY DARLING DEAR YOU ARE ENOUGH

Love should be equal. Love should be give and take. Love should be trust, content and knowing that person ALWAYS has your back at the end of the day. Once you learn self-love, once you learn your worth, once you know you deserve the world and everything in it. You’ll come to the point where you know, for a fact, you are worthy of the most amazing, genuine, safe, trusting love, you will NEVER settle.

You are an incredible human being. You’re strong, courageous, talented, and most of all beautiful. The world is yours to conquer. Never forget that.