by Daniel Nkado
When you finally learn to love yourself, it’s amazing how your life will simply turn around.
Loving yourself is not as simple as people claim though. It is much more than just screaming back at your adversaries.
The fundamental, I think, is learning how to shrug off the criticisms.
I’ve been criticized for being too simplistic, even though I still maintain that the simple things in life are usually the most profound.
Many people have also been criticized for being gaudy.
It brings us to the question—what do people really want?
The simple answer is: To talk!
Never met that person that has succeeded in keeping entirely mute for one whole day—nobody. Except, maybe, the challenged.
Life is a long journey to self-discovery. Usually, the older you get, the wiser you become.
To me, to be truly enlightened is to go deep within yourself and know who and what you really are, and to know that you have the ability to change certain things but not all.
It’s not selfish to love ourselves. Loving ourselves makes it easier to love others.
Love is a deep appreciation, so when I talk about loving yourself, I mean having a deep appreciation for who you are.
Accepting all the different parts of ourselves—from our little uniqueness to those small flaw dots; the things we may not do so well, and then all the wonderful other qualities we possess.
We understand that life is flawed, and can never be completely right. That we can never magically turn ourselves into that wonderful, perfect thing everyone is desiring.
We accept the whole package of us, unconditionally.
Unfortunately, many of us will not love ourselves until we lose the weight, or get the job, or get the raise, or the boyfriend, or the six packs, whatever.
That is setting targets and it is a waste of time. Learn to live as you go. Stop waiting on a particular achievement or condition to become truly happy.
Love is something we can choose, the same way we choose how to deal with anger, or hate, or sadness. We can choose to forgive someone who has hurt us and begin to finally heal.
We can choose to be grateful for what we already have. We can choose love.
It’s always a safer choice to make.
As you make your bed so shall you lie on it!
Am in that process learning to love myself. Thanks for this lovely write.
Well said Dan