Self Love | Why you should love yourself first

" Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have."

Most people confuse Self-love with selfishness. Self-love is often placed in the same ranks as narcissism or egoism.

It's true that some people are totally engrossed in themselves. They are self-obsessed and indifferent towards the world. But that's not what self-love is.

There are so many people who are living their lives as if they do not matter. They are just "existing" on this planet forgetting their life purpose. These people do not value themselves and seem to be lost in this world. They have forgotten or maybe never have realised their self-worth.

When we understand our true worth and stop settling for any less, we start practising self-love.

Self-love means having a high regard for yourself. You start valuing your happiness, ambitions, desires and needs without compromising or sacrificing to please others. It's not that other people's happiness does not matter to you! But it's that you matter to yourself and so you don't sacrifice yourself to make others happy.

Loving yourself doesn't mean that you have to think you are the best in the world! Instead, you recognise your flaws and accept yourself fully.

You realise your faults and weaknesses, the mistakes you have done. But instead of blaming and loathing yourself, you learn the lessons and move forward.

You stop criticising your looks, your weight, your accomplishments and everything else. From the harsh critic, you become your nice forgiving friend. You start treating yourself with compassion and kindness.

When you love yourself, you are not becoming arrogant to think you are the most important person around! Instead, you think you are as important as others and respect yourself the same. You "matter" to yourself and you realise your self-worth. You understand that you can't settle for less than what you deserve. Not anymore!

You start seeing the world in a different light. The bitter world becomes a better place to live. Also, you start feeling compassion for others. It's true that you cannot truly love another unless you love yourself.

~Article written by Ishita Ganguly, M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA

Read my article on 7 SELF LOVE PRACTICES THAT CHANGED MY LIFE.