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Life

Self love is not easy… and that’s okay

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Albizu chapter.

 

We are constantly surrounded by a lot of articles and quotes, saying that if you don’t love yourself, you won’t be able to love others. Also, that you have to love yourself first, so you can be able to enjoy things. But for someone with depression, anxiety or another mental illness, this isn’t necessarily true. Loving someone or doing something that they love, could be what keeps them going; even if they feel like they don’t love themselves. Love is something that can be hard, so imagine how hard can be self love. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but be patient, because it can take some time. And that’s okay. Everyone has a different pace. But this also can depend on the day… some days you can feel like there’s no one else in the world who can love you the way you do yourself, and some days, these thoughts couldn’t be farther from reality.

The thing is that, for some people, something “this easy” can be hard. We are all different in our own way. So please, remember this kind of things instead of belittling a situation that someone is going through. Self love is one of the reason why self esteem is very important, and since I recently read Wild Embers by Nikita Gill, I’m going to finish with a line of one of her poems.

“… who can be a better teacher to others in how to love you than you yourself.”

By the way, this book is super empowering! I highly recommend it.

Mariely is a PhD student in School Psychology at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. She loves spending time with her family and their dogs named Gabo and Bebo. Mariely is always practicing sign language, reading, crafting, writing, watching movies or blogging! You can find her under a pile of books on her Instagram.
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