Learning to Love Oneself and Not Hate The World

[RadicalDreamer]

Seriously, it's tough out there. How does one learn to love themselves in this kind of world, where our every depravity is laid bare? Yick.

 

Anyways, everyone tells you that you have to love yourself, and I think they're right. I feel within myself a very real possibility of being consumed by bitterness. And being vaguely spiritual-ish, I think that's bad news for the soul. But I can't help but view myself as a product of the world I'm in. No matter what good I try to accomplish, I always end up seeing some "slant" for why its not so good. Tainted world = tainted me, is the only way I can see it, and I hate that. The old, bumbling, happy-go-lucky, clumsy kinda stupid me, was so much easier to manage

 

One day, I hope I can wake up and have a day, live my life, and only realize when I go to bed that night that the words "I hate myself" never once went through my head. Has anyone else struggled with this kinda feeling?

[Generation]

You can't just love yourself. It's not as easy as looking in the mirror and saying "I love you". Like with anyone else, you have to earn your love, that's what I believe. Have you been good to yourself? Have you done good?

 

You can see why people hate themselves. Those who love themselves, generally people love them too, and there's a reason why. For some people, they have all the reasons to love themselves but they don't love themselves because they feel like they have a lot more growing to do.

 

As for not hating the world, yeah, that's hard. There's so much pain and suffering in the world, and I hate that, and I hate how people hurt each other each and everyday. The only thing to do is to change it, in whatever way you can. It's why people start charities or volunteer to help youths.

[RadicalDreamer]

Thanks, Generation. I've been trying to do good to everyone that I can. I throw myself into spending time with my daughter, trying to work on my marriage, and being there for my friends and family. When I can, I try to find ways to do extra and give back to the community, but opportunities with this are limited because they usually depend on childcare arrangements. But there's a jaded, reflexive part of my cynical side that just sees a lousy, pathetic guy trying to cover up for what's missing in his life Whatever the hell that might be.

 

The best thing I've been doing for myself is getting back into an exercise routine. The endorphins have helped to mellow things out, but I still have to stack arguments for why waking up tomorrow is a good idea. However, I am quite fortunate- that answer is usually my daughter. She's the one person I know of who would NOT be better off if I weren't around She's saved my life a couple hundred times in the past year, and lucky for me, she likes me okay too

 

I'm going to keep trying, and trying (and trying!) to find ways to take care of myself that don't have an undercurrent of selfishness to them. Because if I end up hurting or neglecting others to make myself happy... well, the guilt will just out me back at square 1. Thanks though, it really helped to hear from someone