Love is one of the first things we ever learn about and it's something we continue to learn more and more about the older we get. From the beginning, we feel the love from our parents, our family members, and our friends. We watch things, like Disney movies, that end with true love and a happily ever after. We read books that emphasize romance and love. From as early on as sometimes four or five years old we begin to get some sort of grasp of what the word 'love' means and begin to already set expectations and make up our own ideas about what it means to be 'in love'. There are so many different types of love in the world, and some are talked about more than others. Romance love, is probably the love people talk about the most.

It seems like everyone is looking for 'the one', their soulmate, their mr./mrs. right, their perfect match. It seems like that is the universal goal of many, many people- the ultimate dream- to fall in love with someone and love them enough to stay with them forever. It's a beautiful thing, but it is not the most important love, it is not the only love that makes life worth while. Truth be told, it is not hard at all to love another person, it just comes naturally. It is not hard to see something in someone else and to fall for it instantaneously, or to love in-spite of another persons 'flaws'. But then at the same time, why is it so hard to do the same for ourselves? How is it possible to love others whole-heartedly if you don't even love yourself a little bit? Is anyone truly in love with themselves? Nobody talks about being in love with themselves. Maybe its because saying you love yourself may sound kind of odd and maybe even vain, but its not. Self-love is not a type of love that should be overlooked.

Although, self-love may not be a Prince on a white horse and a fairy tale ending, it brings a type of happiness that no one else, other than yourself, can fulfill. Self-love brings happiness, peace, contentment, independence, and confidence but it is not easy by any means, it's something you work for everyday. Self-love takes time, effort, forgiveness, and lots of patience. It is not a love that you just fall into (not usually, anyway) it is the kind of love that isn't perfect by any means, and takes time to grow.

It truly isn't easy to love yourself all the time. You will make mistakes, somehow figure out ways to unknowingly sabotage your own life, you'll hurt the people you love, you'll completely embarrass yourself, and you will experience times of failure -and it will be hard to love yourself then. You will see what goes on behind the scenes of your own life while you only see what goes on, on the main stage of everyone else's, which means, you are most likely going to compare yourself to others -and it will be hard to love yourself then as well.

You will have good days and bad days. Good days when you will feel on top of your game and feeling like you could take over the world, and then you will have your days that everything you do seems wrong and you can hardly find a way to smile, let alone feel any sort of admiration towards yourself -and that's okay, keep trying.