*By Caroline Gichuki*

You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody- Maya Angelou

Just how hard is it to love yourself? We have so many responsibilities and so many people looking up to us that we tend to forget to love ourselves. Everyone is your favorite except yourself that is why you do everything to make them happy even if it means losing yourself in the process. One key cause of mental health issues is our inability to love ourselves. We are so concerned about what people think about us or say about us that we forget to look after our mental health. We are so busy trying to live the perfect life that we forget to live a life worth living. We persevere abusive relationships just because we don’t want to look like failures. We are giving so much of ourselves to others that we leave ourselves drained. When we mess up, we are so quick to judge ourselves.

If you are not the richest then you are not good enough. If you don’t have the curvaceous body, the one society considers perfect, you are unlovable. If you are a man with no beard, you are not man enough. If you don’t have that flawless skin you don’t take care of yourself enough. Worst of all the assumption that if you are not brown skin, you are not beautiful enough.

I think all these are assumptions that society has put across and which, unfortunately, we allow to define us or how we feel about ourselves.
We have this all wrong. Self-love is not about being the most beautiful or the richest or the smartest. Self-love is all about accepting yourself just the way you are while embracing your strengths and weaknesses. It means being kind to yourself even when you don’t feel like you deserve it.

Loving yourself means choosing yourself and your peace of mind every single day of your life. It is work in progress. You cannot love yourself automatically but you can always try. You can try to be gentle with yourself when you make mistakes. An easier way would be to look at yourself in the mirror every day and say “I love myself.” You cannot pour from an empty cup so if you want to live a life full of passion and compassion, embrace the art of loving yourself. If you want to be able to show love, you must love yourself first. Remember, you can’t love another if you don’t love yourself. You are a masterpiece and all you need is to believe in yourself a little more. You can do this. It also took me a long time to learn to love myself but I am glad I can finally say that the favorite part of me is me.

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps you love yourself a little more.

Read more articles by Caroline Gichuki:

1. Raised in the Cruel Streets. Click here to read.

2. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. Click here to read.

Caroline

FAVORITE PART OF ME

THE CRUEL STREETS

ACT LIKE A LADY THINK LIKE A MAN

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