Are You In Love With Yourself or Loving Yourself?

The Seeds You Sow

This week we decided to discuss what it really means to love yourself and your significant other in today's culture. In this context, we defined the concept to " to be in love with yourself" as an unhealthy selfish "full of yourself" type love that depends on external confirmations. Contrarily, we defined the concept of loving yourself could be defined as being able to love, accept, and show compassion to one's self independent of material things or the approval of others. We noted the cultural complexities that make it difficult for people to truly love & accept themselves wholeheartedly. We highlighted the fact that how a person treats themselves, and how they feel about themselves reflects in their relationships with others. We also delved into the importance of spending time getting to know yourself, and learning to love yourself, before building a foundation with your significant other. We referenced the articles, "The Brain on Love" by Diane Ackerman, "Why You Need To Get To Know YOURSELF Before a Relationship" posted by the online publication, meetmindful and "How To Tell if Your Partner Has Genuine Self Love?, by the Goodmen Project. This conversation opened the doors for us to offer our personal testimonies on various aspects of dating, love, and relationships, the process and patience it required to truly know one's self as well as the person your dating and the vulnerability & courage it requires to authentically become your best self while single or in a relationship. Our goal with this episode is to encourage you to think critically about type of relationship you are building with yourself and with others. We all want acceptance and love, so we're hoping that this episode will help us all along the path to truly loving ourselves and others in healthy, mature, and honest type of way.