.png)
Self-love has been on my mind a lot these past few months: what it means, what it involves, what a life with self-love looks like, everything about it. I’ve watched all the Youtube videos there are on the topic, all the Ted talks, I’ve bombarded myself with information about self-love hoping that if I surround myself enough with self-love confessions that I will learn what the secret is so I can implement it into my own life.
I’ve been watching all of these videos hoping that one day I will reach a point where the message finally gets drilled into my mind and on that day I will be able to say “I truly love myself and everything about myself” and I'll be happy and accepting of myself until the end of time.
However, from surrounding myself with all of these self-love testimonies, my conclusion is somewhat different to what I predicted.
I’ve concluded that the secret to true self-love is accepting that you’re not perfect, you’re never going to be perfect, but that’s ok. I think as long as you accept that fact, that is true self-love.
I realised I was craving this ideology which is almost impossible to reach as you can always love yourself more and accept yourself more, there isn’t a definitive line at the end of the race which you meet one day after watching a great Ted talk whereby you can say “I love myself now” and you’re set for life. The journey to self-love isn’t a linear one. There’s always going to be bumps in the road where you lose your confidence because of a bad grade or cruel remark by someone insignificant. It’s ok that you have those bumpy times as they make you you.
By constantly striving to be at a point where you love yourself completely and accept everything about yourself for the rest of time, I fear that this is expecting too much of ourselves. I think the true key to actually loving yourself is accepting that there are going to be times when you’re not ok, and that’s ok. We’re always going to be able to love ourselves more, don’t pressure yourself to reach this target which for many feels unachievable because, I think for me, the idea I had in my head was unrealistic with what life throws at you.
You’re only human, you can only do so much. The fact that you’re trying to figure out how to love yourself, shows that you love yourself as you are wanting better for yourself and taking care of yourself. That’s amazing and you should praise yourself for that.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re doing great.
Love, Alice xxx