" You can't love someone else until you learn to love yourself first " I'm sure you've all heard this saying, either like this or
in other forms such as "Find Yourself" Whichever way you've heard it, it's still the most, well, annoying cliché ever. My mum would say it in ways like "find hobbies" or "find things you enjoy doing" and I used to think she was just annoying me. It's taken me a very big heartbreak, the move back home and 3 - 4 months without a job to finally understand what loving myself begins to look like.
I used to think " I'll love myself once my stomach is flatter, once I sweat less, once this and once that " and don't get me wrong, I still dislike these things and really wish they would change but I don't hate them anymore. I didn't even realise the change, after 2 weeks of being jobless I started getting into a routine. I read an awesome blog post about how to be and the benefits of being a morning person and decided from then on I would be. I started going for walking the dog every morning between 8-9 (which is now 7:30 - 8) and have now started running (a lifelong dream) I see a counsellor fortnightly, I started this blog and dedicated time to my instagram and pinterest, building a standard, a reputation for myself for a business that one day I hope to own. I create things (currently have 3 or 4 on the go, tutorials to come soon!) and I'm looking into taking yoga classes!
I never thought I could be truly happy on my own, I never thought I could be even just okay on my own, but I've come to realise that I don't need anybody else to make me happy, and even though part of me will always want someone else in my life, I will really be okay if that doesn't happen for me. Don't get me wrong, I still have those bad days when I think nothing will get better (thanks depression) but the difference now is I fight back when I get those thoughts. I still break down and cry but I fight back when I'm done.
And that my friends, is how I started on the road to loving myself.
Nicola Jayne <3

















