Your Self-Love Exists

Who are you?

I know..it’s a big question. We aren’t just one thing.

But when no one is watching, you’re all on your own, who are you?

As marginalized folks we learn to be shape-shifters.

We mold ourselves into who we think we should be rather than who we actually are.

We are constantly told that who we are is wrong, so it can be hard to intimately know ourselves.

It is painful to lean into who we really are when we are so used to putting on a show. Casting ourselves as someone who doesn’t resonate with our true being.

What would your life be like if you tried owning who you are, your most authentic self?

Authenticity is the constant letting go of who you think you should be and accepting who you really are.

Get to know that individual. Learn to love that individual.

I knooooooow that can be a tough task. Loving ourselves through our imperfections and unique qualities is a challenge.

So as my dear friend Siham said to me a few weeks ago:

“Just because we don’t feel love towards ourselves doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.”

The absence of self-love doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Just because you are hard on yourself, feeling like you’re never good enough, internalizing shame, that doesn’t mean that the capacity to love yourself is nonexistent.

We’re bound to have moments where we “aren’t feeling ourselves", but what is important is to acknowledge the self-love that exists.

We have to dig deep and find that love at our core.

We have to trust that even though we are feeling “bleh” in our current state does not mean that a greater appreciation exists within our bodies.

Trust that you can find that love. Even if it is a passing moment. It’s there. Trust it.

Loving wishes,

Nora