When did you stop loving yourself?

I recently came across a question on Quora which said- “What’s one reason to have self love?’ and me being an advocate for self love, it really stirred up things in me.

And the first thing that came to me was- Do you really need a reason to love and if yes, is that even love in the first place??

And, isn't love one of the strongest forces of life? Isn’t it love that drives us, gives us a reason to live and be our best selves.

Isn’t love the essence of living? 

And I’m talking of love in whole, not just in context with another person, but with respect to everything including yourself.

Isn’t it the desire to love and be loved that keeps us going in life!

Then why is it a question if we should love ourselves or not.

Because honestly there’s no reason to love yourself, and no one can convince you to love yourself until you believe so and choose for yourself.

But do you ever wonder what makes you devoid of self love in the first place?

I think loving yourself often doesn’t happen by default. Most of us lose it somewhere in the journey of life. Life happens to us, things change, people come and go, we grow up and with that, the way we see ourselves also changes.

Something shifts in us. Sometimes it's some insecurities we develop about ourselves, sometimes it’s just the way we are that we begin to dislike.

We start to hold certain grudges against ourselves, silently hating ourselves for having done certain things in the past, or worse, for being a certain way.

We separate from ourselves, distance grows, we shun the child in us, become the serious adult we never wanted to and just like that we never realize when we turned away from ourselves.

We started to reject love to ourselves, we didn’t allow ourselves the love, understanding and compassion- All the things we desire from other people.

If you are not ready to allow yourself your own love and kindness, why would anyone else give you that?

You can simply not have what you deep within think you don’t deserve!

PERIOD.

Your relationship with yourself comes first, and it’s the most beautiful one that you can tend to and grow into something really beautiful with time.

It’s like becoming your best pal, best buddy, someone you can confide in, someone who gets you without judging you.

It’s like honoring the body you have, loving the child you were and accepting who you have become today.

It’s dropping the past grudges, forgiving yourself and allowing yourself your love. That’s when you connect with yourself and suddenly life starts to feel beautiful again.

And it’s worth it because you are the one who’s going to be always there with you at every phase of life.

After all- What could be more satisfying than feeling worthy of your own love?