I was inspired to write this post after watching Tracy’s McMillan’s video below on “The person you really need to marry.” She states that you need to marry yourself.

Vows to Love Yourself

1. Marry yourself for richer or for poorer. You have to love yourself right where you are. When you do this you can get where you need to go.
2. Marry yourself for better or for worse. Everyone loves ourselves when its better, but we need to learn to love ourselves during the bad times too.
3. Marry yourself in sickness and in health. You need to forgive yourself for your mistakes. When you make mistakes, make sure to learn from it.
4. Marry yourself to have and to hold. Love yourself the way you want others to love you.

We need to learn to be happy with who we are. It is only when we truly know ourselves and and love ourselves completely that we can really love others and give love freely. You learn to love in a “whole new way.” You won’t be satisfied until you really learn to love yourself. By loving yourself, you learn to love other people where they are currently at as well.

Loving yourself seems like an easy task to do. Maybe it is for some people but for me personally I’ve always struggled with this.

In life, we tend to take on different identities based on what we do—a working parent, a parent, etc. If that role is taken away, there tends to be a void that is missing. When we try to fill that void by getting in a new relationship that isn’t right for us, or keeping busy at work so we don’t have to think about where you are in life, that isn’t right either.

At the end of the day, your happiness doesn’t lie with what you are currently doing, or who you think you are, based on your current job description. At the end of the day, your happiness lies within yourself.

When you realize that you have everything that you need in life and also truly love yourself, you see the world in a whole new perspective. You become a more giving person, and want to help others and see how your skill set can help other people.

Loving yourself opens you to experience life in a richer way. This is one thing I want to make sure my kids understand before they go out into the real world. I want them to truly love themselves and accept themselves for who they are. If I can teach them that, I will feel like I’ve done my job as a parent.

How did you learn to love yourself?