I don’t claim to know it all, but there are definitely things that I have learnt on my journey that I know for sure are an inevitable to living a happy life. One of the most important on that list is self-love, It sounds so simple yet it’s something that many of us have not fully conquered. What I’ve found is that often times we carry around with us so much emotionally baggage from our childhood and past that acts as somewhat of a barrier between the love you give and your true self, we become our own worst enemy. Take for example a broken home, your parents constantly fighting, there is some sort of abuse going on (either emotional or physical) and you feel like you are to blame. You grow up feeling like you have already let two of the most important people in your life down and that this will turn into a pattern, so what do you do? You shut off, when deep inside of you there is a little child crying out for help, this cry comes in the form of over-eating, addiction, bullying, etc. It is all a way of getting attention, in hopes that someone will see that you are truly hurting, and save you. The problem here is that when you grow up not loving yourself, you enter your early adolescent years not truly knowing what it is to love, which in turn can lead to a string a failed relationships of you trying to heal the wounds of your past with your partner.
I once heard a quote that stuck with me to this day,”You are responsible for your life. If you’re sitting around waiting on somebody to save you, to fix you, to even help you, you are wasting your time. Only you have the power to move your life forward.” In this life you really need to be your own hero, you need to have faith in yourself. Never forget that the it’s the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it, you have the power, and you are more than the broken pieces of your past.
You need to learn to put your own needs ahead of anyone else’s, what I mean is that you must first nurture yourself so that in turn you’ll have more nurturing to give to those who need you. It’s just like the airplane oxygen-mask theory: If you fail to put on your mask first, you won’t be able to save anyone else. If you don’t love yourself, how are you able to give love to another person, It just doesn’t work. With that said I ask of you this, stop and take a look at your own needs, really look hard and identify what It is that you need. Go mindless. Let Go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
