“If you don’t love yourself,
how can you love someone else?”
This quote bothers me.
It bothers me a lot.
Who has the right
to say you can’t love
someone because of
your own insecurities?
Everyone has tiny things
they dislike about themselves,
or wish they could change.
That doesn’t mean
those things stop them
from giving their heart to someone.
Their raw, emotion-filled
beating vessel.
Full of their past,
their dreams,
their dreads,
their demands,
everything.
Or what about
letting the person in
to see what’s really
behind the stone built walls,
covered in thoughts
of ivy and envy
of the pretty, prep, and rich.
The same walls
that have been up for ages
and would have been for eternity.
Someone having insecurities
doesn’t mean
those things stop them
from sharing how they truly feel
about themselves.
It shows they finally feel like
they’re able to trust that person.
They can finally let them
into their mind
and behind their eyes
to see the vision
they see in the mirror
or on the window
while walking by
or the small digital numbers
on a scale.
They’d would be able to hear
Pimple here, pimple there.
Why are there bags under your eyes?
Your hair is disgusting.
that small voice on replay too
Your thighs shouldn’t jiggle.
Why is your stomach sticking out?
Do you really have that much fat on your arms?
And begin to understand
Why did it go up by .5?
Last week it was 112. 1,
Why is it 112.6?
the controlled chaos inside
the closed off mind.
But the insecurities
don’t change the fact
they are finally learning
to love something.
All the years of put-downs
and insults
and humiliation
and bullying
fading away because one person,
a special person,
has made the effort
to get to know and accept
and will try to find the corrupt source
to fix and heal and mend.
They will begin to shine the light of
‘it’s okay’ into the eyes of the beholder.
They will send the message of:
having imperfections is okay.
For your imperfections
are perfect to me,
and they shall not be
any other way.
Loving yourself
is not an easy 1-2-3.
It’s a step-by-step process
of accepting who you truly are;
and the joy of getting to share that
with someone you love,
is priceless.