Try to visualize yourself with a ball of white light in your chest. It glows with pure love, especially when you are with family and friends. When you want to express your affection to someone, you take a small piece of that light and hand it to that person. With every coffee you buy for a stranger, listen to a friend when they feel down, or lend them one of your favorite books, you are giving them a piece of your light. It is unlimited, so you need not do anything replenish it. However, when you don’t love yourself, it depletes with every kindness and affection that you show to other people. This light eventually goes out, and you feel burnt out and exhausted. Once you become emotionally exhausted and unable to find the positive in anything, depression sinks in. Here I’m sharing with you 10 reasons why you should love yourself first.
1. You Have To
Loving yourself first is essential if you want to be happy and live your life with no regrets.[1] You may have been holding back because you have been told you aren’t worth loving at some point. Thus, you’ve been bullying yourself about it ever since. But that is the glass ceiling that this generation must break through immediately. You deserve to be loved. You are a wonderful human. Life on this planet is short; do you really want to waste it with self-loathing? Hate only leads to hate, misery, and war. Do you want to be at war with yourself forever? Or do you want to be at peace and create new and amazing things? You have a whole life waiting for you on the other side of all that.
2. It Is Your Responsibility
By taking self-love out of your control and leaving it in the hands of others, you can only ever be disappointed. After all, it isn’t someone else’s job to do that. Pressuring other people to do it for you is unfair. You need to love yourself, not your parents, spouse, or kids. It is time to take responsibility for that now.
3. It Isn’t Selfish
They say in every flight that you have to put your own life mask on before helping another person. It isn’t selfish to do that because you will die before you can help someone who can’t help themselves. It is impractical — not heroic — to make yourself suffer while trying to be there for others. Similarly, you need to love yourself first so that you can help anyone you want. Put yourself first, say no to draining circumstances, and make choices in your best interest. Although it sounds selfish, it is not bad at all.[2]
4. It Makes It Okay To Be Unloved By Others
When you love yourself, you live on another level, another vibe. Some people won’t like that, and that is okay for you. It may be even good, considering you will see who cares for you, who is happy to see you happy, and who just wants you to be miserable. When you prioritize yourself, you can see who matters and clear out all the toxic people in your life.
5. You Deserve It
All of your life, it may have been heavily implied that you aren’t supposed to love yourself.[3] You are supposed to help others first and only gain it as a result of your acts of service. As we have all experienced, love isn’t always equal. Still, let us reiterate: you deserve to love yourself. You are a beautiful, caring, selfless human being, so why on earth would you deserve any less? This article can nudge you further in the right direction: How to Love Yourself And Embrace Who You Really Are
6. Why Not?
Are you afraid of being perceived narcissistic and reducing your likeability? That might happen, but wouldn’t it be better if you were around people who loved you for loving yourself? You create your reality, so it is possible. There are no downsides to loving yourself. Even if something seems wrong, your life will be better for it.
7. You Can Inspire Someone
By taking up the chance to love yourself first, you can inspire other people to make that same change. Most people are just waiting for a leader to step up, take the scary steps, and show that it is safe. This new way of living is okay and acceptable without suffering from a social setback. Come forward and say, “Hey, I love myself! It’s scary, but it’s okay. If I’m honest, it’s nice not to rely on other people to know my self-worth.” Watch how many people will turn around and say, “You inspired me. I started my journey to self-love, and I couldn’t be more excited.” To love yourself, you just need to give yourself permission to try, so set a positive example to someone else and do it now. Who knows, it might change their life.
8. It Can Only Improve Your Life
The thing about self-love is that it can improve your mental state. You can only feel better, more confident, more secure, and happier when you are in a better space. Once that happens, you can create a better life for others. Your life will be full of laughs. You will try new things because you won’t be afraid to fail and get out there and not care what people think of you. More importantly, you will live your life to the fullest and have the confidence and grit to go after your dreams. Here are more tips for you: 6 Ways to Show Yourself the Love You Truly Deserve
9. You Can Change the World
When you love yourself first, you can create real change. You have that new confidence, bravery, and conviction to do it. You stop depending on someone else to give you all the emotional benefits that come with love. As soon as you make that happen, greatness follows suit.
10. You Can Love Someone for Real
You can spend your life by giving love away, hoping to gain it in return, but life isn’t a business transaction. Some people just take, and you keep giving without realizing that it chips away at your own self-esteem and self-worth. When you love yourself without expecting anything in return, you can love someone the way they deserve to be loved. After all, you have an endless source of it, and it can never deplete.
Bottom Line
If you want to replenish the ball of light in your chest and reconnect with an unlimited source of love, take a day off to do that. Find out who you are and be compassionate to yourself. Buy something nice, go to a spa, compliment yourself, and make other hard choices that are in your best interest. That’s the only way to reignite your light and love yourself. I hope that you take a moment to feel that love inside you after reading this. Love is beautiful, and you deserve to feel it all. It doesn’t make you a wrong person to want that.
More on Practicing Self-Love
If You Have Forgotten How To Love Yourself, You Need To Read This 10 Superpowers You Gain As You Learn To Love Yourself When You Know It’s Time To Let Go And Love Yourself More
Featured photo credit: Raychan via unsplash.com
