Love yourself first
I’m just going to jump right in. I’ve heard at least two variations of this saying. One being “You need to love yourself, before you can expect others to love you.” the other being “You need to love yourself, before you can truly love others.” I am aware that there are many variations of these sayings but these two are the ones I’ve heard the most and I never liked them...especially the second. I always understood them to mean, that if I can’t love myself, then the love I have for others just isn’t real love. I know this might seem somewhat dramatic but it made me feel like people were trying to tell me, that my feelings weren’t real and that what I thought was love...well wasn’t. It’s only recently I realised what these sayings really meant (I still don’t fully agree with them but I’ll get into that later). I finally understood that it was saying I needed to make myself a priority, to take care of myself and my needs, be nice to myself and show myself understanding and empathy. Fo