YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF
Many
cases of depression have been borne out of people’s bitterness
about who they are. Their negative feeling of bitterness could lead
to discontentment, dislike, and hatred of self that can escalate to
them suffering from inferiority complex, and in terrible
circumstances, prompt them to commit suicide. The obvious fact about
it is that quite a number of people suffer from this issue and
haven’t realized the sweetness in self-love. Realistically, you owe
it to yourself to love yourself and no one can love you more or
better than the way you love yourself. Self-love lights up our love
for others.
One
valuable lesson I've learnt in life is on self-love, worth and
appreciation. In the whole of the universe, I've come to realize that
there is no one like me and there can't be anyone like me. I was
created differently from others and need to appreciate that. We are
gifted, different and unique in creation and God definitely has a
reason for that. Don't change your God-given identity and makeup for
something else. Your identity is your unique selling proposition,
product and potential. Many people
complain about not liking how they are. But the truth is all they
need to do is to discover their uniqueness.
To buttress my point, there's this fable I'd love to share:
Once,
there grew a little pine tree deep in the forest. It had needles that
were evergreen. Yet it was glum. It said, "My
needles are not as pretty as leaves. I wish I had golden leaves."
The next morning, it found its
wish had been granted. It had shining golden leaves. A man passing by
saw the golden leaves and started plucking them. Soon the little pine
tree was stripped bare. It
again said, "I was wrong. I
wish I had glass leaves. They would look pretty and no one would
steal them." The next
morning the tree saw that it was covered with glass leaves. They
sparkled in the sunlight and tinkled gently. But along came a storm,
and the glass leaves were all broken. Once more the little tree was
bare. Now it said, "Leaves of
gold and grass are pretty. But I wish I had green leaves."
Again its wish was granted and it was covered with pretty green
leaves. But then a hungry goat came and ate up all the leaves. "What
a fool I've been!" sighed
the little pine tree. "My
needles were the best for me. I wish I could have them back again."
Fortunately,
the little pine tree was granted its wish once again and it got back
its pretty needles.
Don't
be like the little pine tree; appreciate how you are, who you are and
what you have because while you are busy worrying yourself over what
you don't have and desiring that of another, someone else has less
than you do and is content. If you decide to change who you are
to be someone else, painfully you might
not be as lucky as the pine tree to regain your real identity. I love
myself and should feel the same way too. Consciously and constantly
profess self-love.
I
love myself and you should love yourself too.
Cheers!
