To whoever is reading this; be yourself. Be such a painfully honest version of yourself that it makes others uncomfortable. Be unapologetically real to yourself. Don’t change to fit according to the ideals of this society. They will take pieces of you and change them according to their convenience and then whatever will be left won’t be you. It will be something they created. You will try to create a life out of those pieces and they will suffocate you in return. Know why? They are not a part of you; they will be something that was given to you. It’ll be like an order that you have to abide by. It won’t work. It never does really. That order becomes a burden. It is something that you have to carry and your identity shouldn’t be something that you carry. It should be something that you create.
Love every inch of who you are. Take care of every part of your soul. Cherish your being. You cannot demand respect from others till the time you don’t learn to respect yourself. Forgive your flaws and accept them. Remember that you will never be complete without them. They are as much a part of you as your skills and talents. They will always be; you can hide them for a while but you can never get rid of them. Of course you can try to change; that is a major part in the journey of becoming a better human.
All I am trying to say is that self-love is important. It comes in all forms. From buying yourself a cup of coffee to accepting that you can be an irrational being at times and so on and so forth. You just have to cherish who you are. So don’t bow down to someone else’s criticism of your personality. Don’t start hating yourself simply because someone else doesn’t like the way you are. Don’t let them build you. Create yourself. Love yourself.
Have a happy day and be safe!