I was crying profusely but didn’t know the reason. My husband was considerate, gave me his shoulder to cry on but was worried about what had happened to me. Why was I in this unhappy space when everything was fine. Why had I become a complaining, nagging wife from a supportive friend, he asked me. Why are you feeling unhappy, what is bothering you so much, he asked? I didn’t have answers. I didn’t like myself for some reason unknown to me as well.
I think you have forgotten to love yourself, he said. Read more, I am not seeing you reading like you used to before, start writing again, he advised. I think you are concerned a lot about others and forgotten to do things you loved. He was right. I was trying to do things which weren’t my passion. I was trying very hard to be a perfect mother, a perfect wife, a perfect daughter-in law. I was trying to do things to make others around me happy and was making poor choices. And I was not even pleasing anyone around me. I used to lose my temper frequently and my daughter would always be on the receiving end.
But that pep-talk changed things for me. I decided to take charge of my life again. I avoided bothering about being a perfect person. I started loving my imperfect self. I changed my priorities. My physical and mental well being took precedence over everything else in my life.
I realized, Self- love is not being selfish and you cannot truly love another until you know how to love yourself.
I chose to be around more positive people. I joined a yoga class along with my friend. Yoga helped me release all the negative thoughts and made me a positive person. I started sharing my experiences with the world through blogging. I met wonderful mothers online who have now become my close companions who will never judge me for who I am. They are inspiring women who are a source of motivation for me. These are women whose words and thoughts made me realize the significance of self -love and aspirations.
One another practice which has helped me greatly is writing down 5 things before bedtime which makes me love myself more for the person I am. This part of my daily routine calms me down before I sleep and fills my mind with positive thoughts. It makes me feel grateful for each day and makes me look forward to the next morning with hope of fulfilling my dreams.
Sometimes certain circumstances make life overwhelming. It happened to me and I embarked on this journey of self-love. Today, I chose to share my story with a purpose to aspire more women to love themselves, re-discover themselves and find a path leading to self-love.
“This blog is a link up with Zainab for #WhatILove”