Love Comes When You Can Be Honest About Yourself

I've been told many times in my life, as I'm sure you have, too, that if I don't love myself, no one else is going to be able to. I've always really hated that because it was hard for me to imagine myself really, truly loving myself. I feel like that has always been a constant struggle for me. 

But...then I came to realize that I do love myself. I try to take good care of myself, I try to spend time with people who support me, I work on my art as often as I can — all the kinds of things I would encourage people I love to do. It has never been that I didn't love myself, but rather I didn't like myself all the time. 

As I came to accept myself — all of myself, the things that I like and the things that I don't — I found it easier to be honest about myself when I'm struggling. The last few years of my life, I feel like I've become different and understood things in ways that were never possible before. And even if the relationships I've had aren't the way I want to remember them anymore, it still matters that I felt it.