Have you ever heard about people having issues due to their identity? It happens when people don’t want to hang out or socialise with others because they feel anxiety or inferior about their looks or personality. They feel troubled when they are outside or in a crowded place. They want to be alone and not be a part of anything.

Such people become afraid of doing things in front of people. They hesitate when someone is around and watching them. Such people usually have a lower self-esteem. The concept of self-love is alien to them.

Self-love isn’t just important, it’s essential. The way we feel about ourselves affects every interaction we have and every decision we make. When we love ourselves, we can set healthy boundaries and make healthy choices for ourselves.

We should always know how to accept and love ourselves. We should always be grateful and thankful to The Almighty Allah because He has made us perfect and we should accept ourselves the way He made us.

As we grow up, we start to learn more about the world and ourselves. We start to find our identity and purpose in life. In the whole journey of life, we learn so many things about ourselves. We find something new about ourselves daily. We learn from our experiences and mistakes. People make mistakes and there is nothing wrong with that, because mistakes make us a better person. Our personality is based on our experiences, mistakes, learning, mindset, nature, and on our thoughts. We all have the right to express our feelings, but we always should find the right way to express our feelings without disturbing or hurting others.

How important is self-love

Self-love is very important. Self-love makes us confident and powerful. Confidence gives us strength and power makes us strong. If we do not love ourselves, we will not be able to live a happy life. Life is full of adventures and struggles and it is the belief in ourselves that makes us face everything smartly and bravely.

Growing is amazing!

We face many different kinds of emotions, such as joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, self-loath and many more. Our behaviour depends on these emotions. By expressing emotions, we get to know ourselves better, and then we observe and learn so many things from the reactions of others to these emotions.

Discovering ourselves is amazing, because discovering ourselves makes us a better version of who we were. Observing, discovering, learning and growing make us who we are. Being ourselves makes us strong and more confident.

Embracing ourselves is the first rule to loving yourself. It’s hard to ignore people’s judgemental comments, opinions, but we should never forget to appreciate ourselves. We don’t need to be perfect. We don’t have to recreate ourselves just because of other people’s judgemental opinions and comments. We should just ignore people’s negative comments, otherwise we will also start to become critical of ourselves and this can lead to self-loathing.

How to stay positive and strong

You should never think that you are unworthy or undeserving. The ways to stay strong and become more confident are as follows: be positive, appreciate yourself, love yourself, speak to yourself and embrace yourself the way you are.

You are the best!

Your talents, skills, qualities, passions, knowledge, strength and mindset show your personality. Believing in yourself means having faith in your own capabilities. It means believing that you can do something that it is within your ability. When you believe in yourself, you can overcome self-doubt and have the confidence to take action and get things done.

Being positivity and becoming a self-confident person helps you to completely love yourself.

Embrace yourself

You should never be ashamed of showing or embracing your identity. You need to embrace yourself. You should never stand back from being who you are. Being yourself always helps you meet others like you, and helps others gain respect from you. Being yourself also helps you find real friends that you definitely need in life.

You do matter!

Your desires, dreams, wishes, struggles and skills do matter, not to everyone, but at least it should matter to you. Don’t forget to shine, dream and smile, because this will help you to survive in hard times and will make you strong and confident. Don’t ever lower your self-esteem.

Sometimes people will say something that will hurt and make you weak, but you have to stay positive and strong.

You have to prove that people’s opinions and judgemental comments don’t matter. Always keep telling yourself that you are the best and no one is like you. You are not afraid of anyone. You are bold and steadfast.

Always remember, if you do not love yourself, nobody will. If you can learn to love yourself, you will feel happier and will learn to take better care of yourself.

Steps to help you to learn to love yourself:

• Take care of yourself;

• Follow good health guidelines;

• Try to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, most days of the week;

• Do things you enjoy. Start by making a list of things you like to do;

• Spend time with people who make you happy. Don’t waste time on people who don’t treat you well.

• Treat yourself well. Inspire and motivate yourself.

• Let your struggles motivate you, let your success inspire you.

• Some wise person rightly said: “Never say no one likes me, always say no one is like me!”

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 24th, 2021