The Path To Self Love

Do I love myself?

This question may not give you an instant answer. 

But it would start the journey of self-love for you.

Asking this question in itself is an achievement. 

This is because people remain lost in their misconceptions, which prevents them from seeing the truth about self-love.

Many spend their whole lives without realizing they need self-love to live it well. 

Firstly, a lot of people reject self-love as a concept altogether. 

Others think it’s impossible to bring it into practice. 

And many try to convince themselves that they don’t need self-love and are already strong enough. 

But when the struggles don’t seem to have an end,  the ego gets smashed into pieces. When they get all exhausted, but life doesn’t move ahead for them, they finally realize there is no other way but to start loving themselves.

This is when they finally ask themselves – “Do I love myself?” 

Do I Love Myself: The Underlying Questions

Delving into the question, ‘Do I love myself?’ requires effort and inner strength. 

Thus, it would help if you congratulated yourself on reaching the stage where you are looking for the answer to this question.

Trying to find an answer to it means you are finally open to loving yourself. 

It means you want to know how much you love yourself and wish to grab all opportunities to enhance your self-love.

So, let’s return to the question and focus on how to find an answer.

To find the answer to the foundational question of self-love—“Do I love myself?”—we must ask ourselves some underlying questions.

The answers to these underlying questions together would give you the answer to the main question.

Do I Know Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the first question you must ask yourself is, “Do I know myself.”

It’s an important contextual question because you can only know whether you love yourself well when you know yourself well.

Knowing exactly who you are is also a way to tell if you love yourself.

When you know your basic nature, likes & dislikes, how you approach different situations, and who you are during failures and successes, you can say that you truly know yourself.

When you know yourself well you are in a better position to cater to your own needs as a person.

Thus, knowing yourself well prepares the foreground to love yourself.

The better you know yourself, the better your chance of loving yourself authentically.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I know myself?’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself?’

Do I Value My Inner Peace?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the next question you need to ask yourself is, “Do I value my inner peace.”

Peace is undoubtedly the most essential thing in one’s life.

It is important to be yourself, do anything well, and achieve your set goals & objectives in life.

How highly you value your peace is directly related to how much you love yourself.

So, how often you get angry, how frequently you get involved in an argument or fight, and whether you can say no to violence all tell how much you love yourself.

The higher you value your inner peace, the more you love yourself.

Thus, answering the question, ‘Do I value my inner peace?’ will give you the answer to the question, ‘Do I love myself?’

Do I Understand or Accept Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the next question you must ask yourself is, ‘Do I understand or accept myself.’

Understanding or accepting is a part of loving yourself. 

It’s easy to accept the good things about yourself. 

But no one is perfect, and you have imperfections and traits you may not like about yourself.

What do you do about these weaknesses? 

Do you judge yourself too much and often mock yourself for them? 

Or do you accept your weaknesses & flaws and are willing to work on them to improve? 

The more you can accept yourself, the higher your self-love.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I understand or accept myself?’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself.’

Do I Forgive Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself’, the next question you must ask yourself is ‘Do I Forgive Myself’.

If you have weaknesses and flaws, you can also do wrong, have bad habits, make mistakes, and sometimes face failures.

How do you behave with yourself when these things happen? 

Can you forgive yourself, or are you trapped in punishing yourself by torturing yourself for your slip-ups?

If you have genuinely accepted yourself, you will naturally be willing to forgive yourself. 

You benefit yourself from the doubt as you know you are not perfect. 

Thus, if you love yourself, you will also be self-compassionate and kind to yourself. 

You would be able to forgive yourself easily and know that by doing so, you are also giving yourself a chance to improve going forward.

Thus, the higher your ability to forgive yourself, the more your love for yourself is.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Forgive Myself’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself.’

Do I Trust Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself’, the next question you must ask yourself is ‘Do I Trust Myself’.

Trust is a natural symbol & expression of self-love.

Accepting and forgiving yourself is important but should also be backed by self-trust, self-confidence, & self-belief. 

Accepting and forgiving yourself don’t hold much meaning if they happen at the cost of your self-trust.

You must have faith in yourself. 

You should be confident that you won’t harm yourself in any way, that you will always work in your favor and for your benefit, and that you are fully committed to your well-being, progress, and fulfilling your purpose in life.

If you are unable to trust yourself on these fronts, maybe you don’t love yourself enough.

Alternatively, the higher your self-trust, the more you love yourself.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Trust Myself?’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself?’

Do I Motivate Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the next question you need to ask yourself is, ‘Do I Motivate Myself.’

You trust yourself to always do good for yourself, but failures and low points come into everybody’s life.

What do you do in these moments? 

Do you let yourself slip into uncertainty, sadness, and depression, or do you instill within yourself a never-give-up attitude by motivating yourself?

If you tell yourself that it’s okay to fail sometimes and to feel this way occasionally, you love yourself.

If you tell yourself that it’s a passing phase and that it will get better, you love yourself. 

Finally, if you tell yourself that you have it in you to move forward and achieve everything you desire, you love yourself.

If you, instead of letting yourself sink, motivate yourself when you need it the most, you love yourself.

The higher you feel the need to keep yourself motivated, the more self-love you have within yourself.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Motivate Myself?’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself.’

Do I Work on Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself’, the next question you need to ask yourself is ‘Do I Work on Myself’.

If you love yourself, you want to improve consistently in various areas of life with each passing moment.

Life is constantly changing, and it also demands parallel & timely evolution from you. 

You either ride the wheel or get crushed by it.

You understand this very well and always want to become stronger, more skilled, and more progressive.

Thus, you work to enhance your health and fitness, interpersonal skills like the ability to think and communicate, professional skills and expertise, and other life skills.

You want the best things for yourself, which makes you want to keep getting better in life. This virtue showcases your self-love.

The higher the drive within you to keep getting better in life, the more you love yourself.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Work on Myself’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself.’

Do I Take Care of Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the next question you need to ask yourself is, ‘Do I Take Care of Myself.’

Do you forget to take care of yourself in a quest to constantly get better, or do you deeply realize the importance of self-care?

Life is uncertain and challenging. It throws different and unexpected situations at you. 

Most of them are the ones for which you are not fully prepared. 

Thus, you have to constantly strive to be ready for all possibilities in a given moment. 

In preparing ourselves for life, we sometimes forget to care for ourselves.

We don’t realize that self-care is the foundation of facing life confidently. 

It’s important to take care of your mental and physical health, focus on your personal and emotional needs, and make sure that you are okay while dealing with life at various junctures.

The more committed you are to taking care of yourself, the higher self-love you have within yourself.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Take Care of Myself?’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself?’

Do I Celebrate My Success?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the next question you need to ask yourself is, ‘Do I Celebrate My Success.’

Success takes a lot of effort and hard work. You have to go through a lot of sacrifices, struggles, and failures to deserve success finally.

But when one achieves it, they take it for granted and are not thankful for it.

They forget to say thank you to their selves, treat themselves, and celebrate their success.

If you are one of them, your self-love needs to be enhanced. 

Giving yourself a pat on the back is important whenever you do something worth appreciating. 

It’s your recognition & appreciation that matters the most to yourself.

Celebrating your small and big successes with their matching treats, gifts, and celebrations reemphasizes that you love yourself. 

Thus, the higher you realize the importance of celebrating your successes, the more self-love you have.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Celebrate My Success?’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself?’

Do I Back or Support Myself?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the next question you need to ask yourself is, ‘Do I Back or Support Myself.’

When your success rate increases, and you start becoming popular, your critics also begin to rise. 

Every move and action of yours gets to be judged with minute attention by people.

You may be blamed unfairly for your intentions and your actions. 

It is of utmost importance not to feel weak, vulnerable, and alone in such stressful situations. 

You need to stay stable, back yourself, and prove yourself reasonable and responsible.

When you support yourself in front of others, you give yourself a message full of self-love. 

This message builds your mental peace, clarity, and confidence.

Thus, by showing yourself your support & backing, you showcase your love for yourself.

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Back or Support Myself?’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself?’

Do I Love Others?

To answer ‘Do I love myself,’ the last question you must ask yourself is ‘Do I Love Others.’

Love and self-love are intricately linked.

When you have many enemies, it’s difficult to stay at peace, which also lowers your self-love quotient. 

Alternatively, when you love others, it enhances your self-love, too, as you always get back more love than what you give to others.

By being concerned about the well-being of others, supporting them in improving their lives, and helping them fulfill their life purpose, you reinforce your self-love.

Thus, the more you love others, the more your self-love increases, which gives you a clear indication of your self-love. 

Thus, getting the answer to ‘Do I Love Others’ gives you the answer to ‘Do I love myself.’

Start The Journey of Self Love

Dive into these sub-questions, and the aggregate answer that comes out of them will tell you how much you love yourself.

If your self-love doesn’t seem satisfactory, don’t worry. You can always increase it by working on it. 

Take the question ‘Do I love myself?’ as a starting point and work on all the questions above to start loving yourself. 

Enhance your self-love to a point where you can be proud of it and yourself.