“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha

Many people struggle with the concept of love.

They struggle to believe that they deserve love and can have a healthy relationship with another person. This goes for friendships, family relationships, as well as romantic endeavors.

Sometimes when you get hurt by someone, or get criticized, you begin to see yourself as being unworthy of receiving love. If this is you, then read on to discover a few reasons why you DO deserve love.

Your past doesn’t affect your ability to receive love.
To move forward into why you deserve love now, you need to deal with what made you feel that way in the past. Someone hurt you or made you feel unworthy, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay where they put you.

You get to choose to move forward and re-build your self-esteem. This isn’t to say the criticism and pain you received isn’t important; it’s to say that you are choosing to make a change.

Look at the situation unbiased.
When you’re caught up in emotions and self-doubt, you can’t see yourself clearly. Take a step back (ask a trusted friend, if you need to) and look at it objectively.

Do you really think you deserved the pain and hurt someone else put you through? The person (or people) who hurt you was wrong to put you down or make you feel bad. There could be a hundred reasons why they behaved that way, too.

None of the possible reasons should be used as an excuse for their actions, but rather, as a replacement for the beliefs you have developed about yourself as a result.

You have to love yourself first.
This may not be true yet, but finding beauty and contentment in yourself is a huge step toward building your self-confidence and helping you realize that you DO deserve love.

Little by little, you begin to start appreciating your body the way it is, seeing your talents for what they are, recognizing the good you do and the value you have as a person. Loving yourself is paramount in accepting that you deserve love from anyone else.

You have something special to offer.
You are talented and creative in some way, whether you realize it or not! You may be great at encouraging others or making them feel more comfortable; your talents may be in organization/planning and analyzing a situation logically; you may have a creative skill like graphic design or playing piano that makes you special.

There are things you have to offer as a person that are unique and wonderful; appreciating those things about yourself is an important step to self-confidence and realizing that you deserve love.

Don’t have time for haters.
You can’t worry about being accepted and loved by everyone. For whatever reason, not everyone will support you, or even like you. When you develop self-confidence and an appreciation for yourself though, you won’t have time for negative people anyway.

Don’t waste your time on trying to earn someone else’s love. You deserve better friends, better relationships, and better romantic partners.

Don’t settle for anything less!

About Alex Blackwell

Alex Blackwell is a father, husband and writer. He writes about inspiring things at The BridgeMaker.
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