From the time we enter grade school, even until the day we graduate college, we sit through lecture after lecture. We are constantly learning different things from our teachers and our professors. We are taught how to read and write. Then there is science, history, English, math. So many subjects that we must learn. So many lessons and so many years, yet we are never taught some of those most important lessons of life. We are never taught how to pay bills or how to manage our finances. We are never taught how to let go of a loved one when they pass. We are never taught how to deal with change. All of these things are life lessons we can only learn from experience.
Out of all of the things that we must learn, one of life’s hardest lessons is how to love yourself. No one ever teaches us this or how important that it is. It is something we must learn on our own. It can only be learned by our successes and our failures. It is a process that takes time through many life challenges and obstacles, through all the ups and downs.
We have people that come into our lives who build us up and who will love us no matter what we do. But we also have people that keep knocking us down and who will never love us no matter what we do. Those people who make us feel like we are hard to love are the people who teach us how to love our self.
Sometimes we enter relationships with people who are toxic. It could be a friendship or a romantic partner or even a family member. Maybe it is even a boss who thinks you don’t meet their expectations. Maybe they yell at you all the time. Those toxic people constantly beat us down to where we think we aren’t good enough. Maybe they are emotionally abusive and possibly even physically abusive. Either way, it is only bound to happen at some point or another. We just simply meet people that aren’t good for us. That is inevitable.
There will be other distractions from life that will try to bring us down. It could be people or there are so many other things that could happen. Maybe you gained weight or maybe you lost your job. Maybe you are coping with the loss of a loved one. Maybe you have a disability. Whatever the case may be, we have all been there and we will all be there again. We will constantly have things happen to us to try to bring us down.
Even though it is hard and even though it is painful, there is something beautiful about being at rock bottom. After we have been torn down so much, we have the opportunity to take all the broken pieces and build ourselves back up even stronger and better than before. The process of learning to love ourselves is a journey. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. And we often learn a lot of that from those toxic people and the bad situations that we encounter. We eventually learn that we can only be sure of one person that we can depend on in this life, yourself. And that is exactly why the relationship you have with yourself will be the most important one you will ever have.
Be kind to yourself. Spend time learning to love all the qualities about yourself. Don’t compare yourself to other people. Discover your own unique qualities that make you who you are. Maybe you aren’t where you want to be in life, but set goals and crush them. If you don’t love yourself then who else will? You are who you are for a reason. Embrace it.
