I often hear phrases similar to this: "You can never truly love someone until you truly love yourself." I never understood what that meant. I get that I must love myself because I love others, but what else? Then I began to understand.

And in the humblest way I can say this, I'm pretty freaking awesome.

I fall in love with myself when I see myself learn and grow from mistakes. I fall in love with myself when I list my accomplishments, despite the world trying to stop me. I fall in love with myself in the way I write. You may think my words are nothing special. And that's completely OK! I mean, I'm only a teenager. It's not like I have the best wisdom in the world.

But I love my writing. I love my wisdom. I love my poetry. I love it all because I know the story behind it. I know the feats I've overcome. I know the passion poured into it. You see, I pep-talk myself a lot, and it usually works. Because I'm awesome! Not to toot my own horn but…

Basically, I say this to explain how I'm falling in love with myself. And I'm learning that in doing so, you have to forgive yourself too. I've lived my entire life holding myself to this impossible standard that only I have placed above my head. And when I, constantly, do not meet that goal, I crumble. I hold a grudge against myself and I get stomach ulcers from stress. But I have to forgive myself. God did! And He does so on a daily basis! Why is it so hard for us to do something that our Creator finds no difficulty in?

I just want you to know, if you haven't already figured it out, that falling in love with yourself is an awesome thing to understand. And don't forget to forgive yourself. Because you are worthy of being the best you you can be.