I like me and that’s enough!

“I am highly pleasing in the presence of myself and others.” 

I wrote this affirmation every morning for years because I worried constantly about whether I’d be liked or not. 

After I would meet someone (a stranger or someone I already knew) I would replay our entire interaction in my mind. It would always leave me feeling like I had said or done something wrong and it was absolutely consuming. 

I’d meet someone else. I’d do the same thing, except I’d be more nervous and awkward because I had all of my thoughts swirling about the last time and convincing myself they’d hate me.

It’s completely irrational, I know, but that’s what happens with insecurities; no matter what, an insecure brain will always find flaws everywhere but outside.

It took a lot of positive experiences for me to understand that I was liked by a lot of people. Well, experiences, time and tons of healing and openness.

After some time I understood that the people that didn’t like me must have been dealing with their own shit or simply didn’t resonate with me -and that’s completely okay. It really had nothing to do with me personally.

Moral of the story: Be ok with not being liked by everyone.