If You Can't Like Yourself, No One Else Will Either

We all have a story.   It’s fascinating to me, that most of us don’t know someone else’s WHOLE story.   A lot of us like to keep certain chapters hidden or unknown to other people. We like to tuck those tragedies, hurts, and lonely parts away; for only us to see, know, dwell on, and remember.

But when we do that, we can’t move on. We can’t heal. We can’t become WHOLE.

Some of us don’t even want to.  We don’t know HOW to. We don’t feel we deserve to move on from that spot of deep hurt and pain.

A lot of us are good at acting happy. We give to others, we act cheerful, we encourage, and we show no signs of the unhappiness lurking just beneath our surface.

Or so we think.

The thing is….it shows anyways.  Unhappiness always shows up in our face, in our attitude, in our actions. Somewhere.

If you can’t like yourself – if you can’t forgive yourself – if you can’t find yourself valuable…. it’s hard for others to like you, forgive you, value you, too.

We often sabotage ourselves. What we want the most, we push away. What we need the most, we refuse.  Loneliness and isolation become our friend.

There is no pressure in isolation. No pulling on us to face things we don’t want to acknowledge, or face.  There is a certain sense of comfort in being alone, even if it’s the last thing we need.

We can think we’re good at fooling the world. But we’re not.  We can think we will find happiness or contentment in something we are relying on (which may be different for everyone) – but we won’t.   We can think placing boundaries and walls up in our lives will protect us – but they don’t.

What’s inside still lives inside. What hurts still hurts.

You have so much to give. You have so much potential. Don’t let whatever that hurt is, win over you.  Don’t let it mislead you into living a life less than the one you deserve. 

There is far too much good in this world, and in people, to shut yourself out from the love, the laughter, the blessings, and the richness of relationships.

FACE that hurt. Claim it as a part of your story. And turn it into a strength.

Learn to like who you are – even with those unfortunate moments as part of your story. Respect what you’ve been through, and empower yourself to turn those hurts into testimonies of victory.

You don’t have to be perfect. And people will still like you. You just have to find yourself worthy of being likeable, too.