What is Self-Love? Why is Loving Yourself Important?
Self-love is closely related to self-esteem and is a crucial element of self-confidence. In various texts, self-love is sometimes called self-esteem or self-respect.
Self-love occurs when a person views themselves positively, recognizing their own worth and approving of who they are. This involves assessing oneself as deserving of value and acknowledging this belief.
The idea of self-love plays a vital role in personal success and contributes to self-esteem. A self-loving individual is at ease with both their strengths and weaknesses, accepting themselves wholly.
Self-love is connected to the value a person assigns to themselves. It typically begins in childhood and evolves over time based on personal experiences and how society accepts them.
Often, self-love builds on the positive feedback and opinions received from others. A child subjected to negative labels like "stupid" or "ugly" may internalize these views, leading to a decline in self-love.
The journey of self-love can be enhanced by both giving and receiving affection. However, platonic love—caring for someone who cannot return the feelings—can negatively impact one’s self-perception. While receiving love is important for fostering self-love, it can also have harmful effects.
As personal views on self-worth solidify, the opinions and actions of others may become less significant to an individual's self-love.
Self-love and narcissism are often mistaken for one another, but they are distinctly different concepts. It is important to note that narcissism exists on a spectrum, and not every narcissist has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Narcissism can manifest as a trait or can be more extreme.
In psychology, there is a term known as healthy narcissism, which is also referred to as healthy self-confidence. This simply means having love for oneself. Healthy narcissism is a quality that everyone should possess.
Confusion arises when people mix healthy narcissism with unhealthy narcissism, leading to misunderstandings between self-love and narcissism.
Healthy narcissism involves loving oneself, accepting personal mistakes, striving for self-improvement, handling criticism constructively, recognizing one's worth, and being realistic.
While ego relates to thoughts, narcissism includes feelings of self-admiration, arrogance, lack of empathy, and the belief that one is the best and most important. Narcissists struggle to accept criticism and often think they deserve everything they desire.
There is a clear distinction between loving oneself and believing one is better than others. Self-love is about valuing oneself, while narcissism is about viewing oneself as superior to most or all individuals.