It can be easy to forget about yourself. You want to impress everyone around you, and at the end of the day you begin to lose yourself. You look in the mirror and you’re exhausted, torn up, and looking for that person you lost. Surrounded by standards, jealousy and stereotypes, loving yourself is the hardest thing to do.

Life isn’t as perfect as an Instagram photo may look. There are no amount of likes or retweets that define who you are. Remember, you are not trying to be on the cover of a magazine. Be the photo at the bottom of the pile with your natural hair, your innocent smile and your beautiful imperfections. That is wonderful. That is you. That is who you should love.

Forget about what makes you look different and what you’re embarrassed by or whether everyone likes you. You’re only human. You can’t please everyone. You can’t be everyone's friend. You can’t make everyone happy. Stop worrying. Stop overthinking. Take a deep breath and remind yourself how important you are. Love yourself first.

Here are a few reasons why you should love yourself:

It all starts with YOU.

No one is going to make you happy until you make yourself happy first.

Self-confidence

It doesn’t matter how you look, because being comfortable, confident and accepting of yourself is the most beautiful thing.

You feel good

When you start loving yourself, you start feeling good. You are happier and you begin to enjoy life more and more.

Strength

When you start loving yourself, you begin to feel like you’re on top of the world. You feel like you have the strength to overcome any obstacle that gets in your way and go on to achieve your goals. Sometimes you might even discover that you are stronger than you had ever thought.

Love is contagious

When you love yourself, it becomes easier to love others. The act of self-love inspires others to love themselves too.

You’re only human

No one is perfect. You are not perfect and that is OK. Becoming perfect isn’t what life is about. So, love yourself for who you are.

While people come and go in your life, you will always remain.

It’s easy to get caught up in impressing others. You overthink every email, text message and conversation. You want to please everyone, but that’s an impossible task. People will continue to come in and out of your life, but you're not going anywhere So be sure to take time for you.

You’re worth it

All of your life, you work hard on being the best you can be. Be yourself and love yourself. At the end of the day, remember that you are who you are for a reason and you are worth loving.

Loving yourself isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It’s not about being selfish or showing off. Loving yourself is about accepting who you truly are and being genuinely happy. Once you start loving yourself, you will realize that it’s the best feeling in the world.