You’re deserving of that

The act of loving yourself is an ongoing process. Sometimes I feel like the world tells us it’s this easy thing, that one day we’ll wake up and appreciate every little piece of who we are. It’s not like that. It’s always work. But it’s beautiful work.

It’s learning to love imperfections, while striving to become a better you. It’s accepting that you will fall short, but not letting that become an excuse to not push yourself. It’s challenging yourself, but also celebrating how far you’ve come. It’s never settling, but also learning to have appreciation for who you are without always feeling as if you’re not enough.

Sometimes I think we’re our own biggest critics. There’s a fine line, we say, between being confident and cocky. So we shy away from anything close. We convince ourselves that we’re not worthy of things—whether that’s work, or friendships, or love, etc.—we don’t give ourselves the chance to pursue things. We tell ourselves lies.

But the truth is, we’re never going to measure up to the unrealistic ideal in our heads. And that’s okay. Because we’re continually growing—and that’s what matters. Not how much money we make. Not how many people love or have loved us. Not the tangible things we’ve accomplished or done.

What matters is the way we care for people, how we share our hearts, how we learn and grow and fall down, but rise again after every bump in the road.

So this is your encouragement for today, for this week, for this year—learn to let go of the idea that you have to be perfect, or that you’re simply not enough as you are. Sure, there are always things to improve upon or work towards, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate where and who you are right now.

Learn to let yourself be loved, especially by you.