If I were to ask you what you love, I bet I’d be standing there for hours. You’d say you love your family, your friends, your girlfriend, your boyfriend. You’d tell me about your love for the arts, for collecting, for cooking. You would talk about your love for pizza, chocolate, sugar. You would tell me you love the smell after rain, the feel of holding someone’s hand, the look of the snow as the sun rays shine off of it. And how much do you want to bet you would go on for days before you said, “I love myself.” Most people will never say it. Why is that? Why is it so hard for someone to say they love themselves? When I was little, I remember how my parents would say they love me, and I’d reply, with a huge smile, “I love me, too.” I didn’t see any problem with it. I was young and maybe I really did love myself. But why is the only time I say that I love myself now is when I’m joking. Why can’t I honestly say I love me? Why can’t most people?

Go stand in front of a mirror. Stare at you face, stare at everything you hate and everything you love. Study you face like you’ve never seen it before. Now look into your eyes. Can you do it? If you can’t, if it’s uncomfortable, keep trying. Try your hardest to stare at your own eyes and say it. Say “I love you.” And keep saying it until it’s true. You can’t honestly love something until you’ve learned to love yourself. I’ll be honest. I can’t do it. I can’t stare at myself in a mirror without hating something. There are days that I avoid the mirror because of how much I hate my reflection. But at night, I still find myself trying. I still force myself to look into my own eyes and whisper, “I love you.” And I still know it’s not true, but it’s still worth trying. With all the hate in the world, the most we can do is to try our hardest to love ourselves.

If I were to ask you what you love, your first sentence should be, “I love myself.” because over anyone and anything, your family, your friends, your job, YOU are the most important.