Do you know who the most important person to love in your life? YOU.

I think amongst all the relationships we have with other people, we lose sight of one of the most important relationships in our lives. The relationship you have with yourself.

If you don't love yourself, how do you expect others to love you?
Self-love is one of the most important types of love that exist and it is an ongoing learning process.

We are our own worst critics and we are absolutely hard on ourselves. I am so guilty of this. If you treated someone the way you treat yourself, there is no way in hell that person would stick around. So why do we do it to ourselves? Why do we think it's okay?

As I always do, I like to keep it real on here. So, I'll share my own personal struggle with self-love and the daily struggle of learning to love myself.

Like many, there are so many reasons why we struggle with loving ourselves or even loving others. For me, I still combat my feelings of abandonment that stem from my relationship (or lack of) with my biological father. You are not suppose to allow those type of issues affect how you respond to love or even how you love others but sometimes, if not most, it does. When someone like that leaves you or denies you affection, it's only natural to believe that you are somehow incapable of being loved irregardless of how much other love surrounds you. That's how I feel sometimes. It's difficult to get past those emotions when they hit hard at home or flare up from time to time.

With those emotions living in you, it's hard to not let them flare up with the relationships you have with others and yourself. Just like a paternal issue as I described, it could also stem from someone emotionally hurting you as well.

From experience, I've been hurt by boys in one way or another just like a lot of girls. I have also been hurt more deeply to the point where I even questioned myself, doubted myself, and wanted to change who I was. Why am I like this? Why can't I just move one and get over it? Why do I care so much? I wear my heart on my sleeve like I've said many times before.
When I care, I care hard. When I love, I love hard. It's natural for me irregardless of how much pain and abandonment I've been through.

As time goes on and I continue to experience new things, I've learned to accept and love myself. You shouldn't change who you are because someone is incapable of loving you the way you love them. You shouldn't hate yourself for someone not caring enough to love you. You are so full of love and you are capable of being loved.

Most importantly, you are not the mistakes you've made. Read that again. You are not the mistakes you've made. Don't harbor on that. We make mistakes but don't condemn yourself for the rest of your life.

Just like Aibileen told Mae Mobley in The Help....