even if no one else will…
Image via Kyungkie
Learning to love yourself is a difficult task. It’s especially difficult because we live in a society that is constantly listing EVERYTHING we shouldn’t like, let alone love, about ourselves; those very things that make you, YOU.
When I was 7, I was diagnosed with congenital scoliosis, meaning I was born with a crooked spine. I never knew I was different, I didn’t even feel different. But, there were those people out there who felt the need to remind me that I was. Those people were my classmates, and some I would’ve called my best friends at the time. Young kids have no filters and they will point out anything, but that doesn’t diminish the fact of how it made me feel about myself. An outcast.
Fast-forward to middle school when I was reminded yet again about how I should be ashamed of a certain part of me, specifically one I had no control over. I was crushing hard on this boy and he was as southern as it gets. Hunting, fishing, baseball…you get the picture. Anyways, we texted (because my mom was cool enough to let me have a silver Razor phone) and I started to like him a lot. One day when we were talking he told me out of the blue about how he couldn’t associate himself with me anymore. I was hurt and I wanted to know why, what have I done? Come to find out it was because his dad didn’t approve that I was a different color than him.
High school really didn’t come at me with any life-altering mishaps, but college sure has slapped me in the face. I have put myself in so many situations where I questioned my self-worth. Times where I have questioned if I’m truly deserving of the consequences I have been served. And the answer to those questions is that I’m worth more than all of the diamonds in the world. I learned that self love isn’t selfish, it’s important. It’s actually more than important, it’s critical. I learned at age 7 that I’m more than the words that people spoke of me, because it was all from opinionated 2nd graders. I learned in middle school that I’m more than the color of my skin, because who I am as a person runs much deeper than the richness of my melanin. I learned in college that no matter what I get myself into that I am worthy of greatness to come. The love I have for myself did not appear overnight, but over a course of 20 years. I went through hell and back to appreciate and cherish the skin that I am in, and for that, I will forever love the person I was, am, and the one I am to become.
Image via Where To Get
Thumbnail image via Self Leadership