So I've been reflecting a lot lately on self-care: the easy parts and the hard parts.
I've also been reflecting a lot on self-love (no not that kind you perv).
I thought on the whole 'someone else can't love you until you love yourself' and how much I revolted against that when it came up recently because it came up in a thread on attraction because some of those who brought it up brought it up in regards to physical attraction and I think that's where it got to me.
I hate my physical appearance.
I know others who do as well.
And it is okay to hate your physical appearance. You can hate your physical appearance and still love yourself.
You can hate your physical appearance, still love yourself, and still be open to being loved by another. And I think that's why it made me so angry. I shouldn't have anyone telling me 'you have to love the way you look to ever be loved by another person.' Because I found myself thinking of all the people with various forms of body dysphoria and feeling for them.
I hate the way I look. I probably always will to some extent (I have some scarring in a couple places that, even if I lose the weight that has me especially depressed, will always be an issue). But I don't hate everything about myself. I'm not consumed by self-hatred. I just hate the way I look. So when I'm told things like 'oh no one will love you until you love yourself (aka your appearance)' (which, in the context of that thread being about appearance is how it came across and is also what my mother has told me my entire life)..... it's infuriating. People have loved me despite my hatred of my looks.
I dunno where this is going, but. I guess I wanted to share since I know there's others on the board who struggle with acceptance of their appearance and I don't want them to feel the same: that they can't be loved/accepted by others unless they manage to accept/love their appearance and I just don't think that's true. I think you can still be loved even if you hate parts of yourself.