What is self-love?

Self-love. Love yourself. Why is this concept so strange today? And did we start normalizing the lack of it? 
 
I have always been a friend who was never thin. A friend with acne problems. A friend who was never approached by boys.  A friend who was never anyone's first choice. A friend who thought she was ugly, incapable, not good enough, and unworthy of love. I would overthink every sentence and every dialogue I ever had. I thought I was not loved at all. I would fall asleep crying almost every night, thinking the worst of myself.  The main reason I started changing my life was a simple conversation with my mother. It began as a friendly conversation, but as we delved deeper, I opened up. I told her I was struggling, and she told me a very simple sentence: “Tomorrow you will wake up as the new you!" Of course, at that moment, it sounded absurd and unbelievable to me, but something woke up in me. It was a desire, it was a need for change.  It was hard, it was very hard, but I wasn't giving up because I had made my decision. I will change.  I wanted to be satisfied with my body, with my face. I wanted to have self-confidence and self-respect. I wanted to enjoy the time I spent alone. I wanted to stop overthinking. I wanted to use my full potential and become the person I know I can be. I wanted to push away the fear of judgment and not being accepted. The hardest part for me was coming home at the end of the day and not replaying the whole day in my mind. When I started to overthink, I would literally say out loud, “Hey, stop!” And I did that every time until one day there was no need to say it anymore. I started going to pilates. I started walking and running. And not to lose weight, but to feel good in my body. My goal was to be satisfied with my body, not to think: I will lose weight and then I'll be satisfied. I stopped worrying about what other people thought. I wore what I liked. I had no problem laughing out loud or blasting music while walking my dog. No matter how many strange looks I got, I was enjoying myself. I started taking myself out. Every time I was home alone, I would do my skincare and take a full, relaxing shower. I'd cook something delicious and put on a romantic movie. When I stopped waiting for other people to do what made me happy, I began to truly love my own time. Slowly, I started to love myself. I made tremendous progress, but my story doesn't end there, because as long as I'm alive, I can keep working on myself and begin again. Slowly but surely, I became a content young woman. Content with her appearance, content with her friends, content with her personality and abilities. Content with her presence, I realized that I am beautiful, capable, enough, and that I AM LOVE. 
 
At the end of the day, besides all your loved ones and friends, you always ultimately have only yourself. So remember that the love you feel for yourself is the most important, and that you are absolutely worthy of every struggle, every challenge you encounter.