Love Thyself

The notion of hating yourself is romanticized in the media. Some poor lonely girl who’s gorgeous, smart, competent, and has a bright future – yet she hates herself. Then a boy comes along who she barely, slowly, lets in after months and months of him proclaiming his love for her she finally opens up and discovers what everyone else see’s in her.
Hating yourself isn’t romantic… but it’s also not worked on often. Girls hates themselves for their whole lives. Why? Because they put all their ‘self-love’ into someone else. They wait for someone else to make them see how great they are. How does this make sense? How can you love yourself through someone else’s eyes? That’s not how life works. You can hate yourself, you can want to die, you can dismiss your reflection, and yell at yourself and cut yourself and… but at the end of the day you still are who you are. You’re still going to feel lost or ugly or fat. You’re still going to hate your stretch marks or moles or fat roles. But why? Why is there such a social need to hate yourself? How can we even say “I’m not as ____ as them.” How?! Of course you’re not at _____ as them! They’re different! Your finger print isn’t as loopy as theirs, does that make you hate yourself? No? Oh, so only some differences matter? Well then everyone should hate themselves because everyone is different.
Hating yourself isn’t romantic. It’s self-destructive. If you don’t like what you see in the mirror change it. Change it because YOU want see YOURSELF when you look in the mirror. Not because you want to see THEM in the mirror. If you don’t like what you hear in your head, change what YOU say. You only have power over yourself. Change what you do and what you say and how you act and who you interact with because you want to feel more like yourself, not because you want to feel like or look like them.
Hating yourself isn’t romantic. Being sick isn’t romantic. Being depressed isn’t romantic. Being lonely isn’t romantic. It’s miserable. It takes work. It takes strength. Unneeded work and strength. Love yourself and love yourself without a “but” at the end. Comparing yourself to other people takes so much nitpicking and energy and measurements. Just love yourself and gravitate towards what makes you feel and look more yourself.