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This article has been syndicated to Her Campus from Stnkrbug by Kendra Stricklin, a Her Campus Blogger Network member. Read the full post here.

Loving yourself does not come easy. It’s something that I’ve always wanted, but have never felt like I had the ability to do. Because of this, one of my goals for 2015 was to learn how to love myself. I knew it would be hard, but I at least wanted to try.

I have never felt comfortable in my own skin, and I always compared myself to others. Negative thoughts constantly filled my head. I’ve always been insecure about my body, and myself in general. 

My journey to self-love was a long and hard one, as they so often are. It’s hard to love yourself when there are people telling you that you won’t amount to anything, that you aren’t anything special, or that you’re ugly. We’re all special in our own ways, and you get to decide how far you go in life—it’s not up to those other people.

Loving yourself is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. It takes a lot of time and effort, but the best relationships do. Start with small things, and work up to the bigger and more difficult ones. And remember that you are beautiful—percieved flaws included.

Read the full post here.

Alice is the Senior Associate Editor at Her Campus. She graduated from Emory University in 2012 as an English major and a Dance minor. Before joining Her Campus, she was an associate editor at Lucky Magazine. She is currently located in Salt Lake City, UT, where she spends her free time rescuing orphaned kittens, whose lives are documented on Instagram at @thekittensquad! You can find her on Twitter and Instagram at @alicefchen.