Finding The Truest Love: Self-Love

Losing someone I loved recently was one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever faced. It felt as though the pain would never end, and there would never be light at the end of the tunnel. Grief overwhelmed me, sometimes numbing me so completely that emotions became a distant memory. One moment, I’d be drowning in a sea of intense feelings, and the next, I’d find myself lost in a hollow emptiness that seemed impossible to navigate.

Living with an empty broken heart is like trying to carry on with a broken bone. The pain affects everything — how I see the world, how I move through the day. And pushing myself to go faster, do more, while feeling this way, is like trying to run on a broken ankle and then getting frustrated when it doesn’t heal quickly. Just as an athlete knows they must rest and heal, I’ve learned I must give myself the time and space to recover.

When I’m feeling down, I’ve had to teach myself to be gentle with myself. To forgive myself for the times I didn’t love myself the way I needed to. There are days when even smiling feels too heavy, and nights when the tears come easily. It’s easy to feel like no one understands, but I’ve realised that’s often just the mind playing tricks. It’s a feeling, not a truth.

Life is a mix of light and dark, joy and sorrow, beauty and hardship. What I’ve come to understand is that nothing lasts forever — not the pain, not the peace. Everything is a phase, and phases pass. The grief that weighs so heavily on me now will eventually reveal strengths I didn’t know I had. It’s hard to see at the moment, but I trust that these struggles are shaping me in ways I don’t fully understand yet. And with time, I believe they’ll bring me to a place of profound gratitude.

I’ve had to learn the importance of kindness to myself. To reach out when I need to, to a friend who will listen without judgment, even if they don’t fully understand my pain. A true friend isn’t there to fix me — they’re there to support me as I find my own way through. They remind me that mistakes don’t make me broken, they just mean I’m a little lost and need to be reminded that everything happens for a reason.

Through it all, I’ve learned to trust that this moment of suffering is a stepping stone to something greater. Brighter days are ahead, even if they seem far away right now. I believe that, in time, everything will make sense, and I’ll see how the heartbreak and loss cleared the way for something more meaningful.

One day, I’ll realise that the missed calls, the opportunities that slipped away, and the broken connections were all part of the process — preparing me for something better. The grief that once shattered my world was necessary for me to fully live and love with depth and passion. Every loss, every struggle, has taught me to open myself to abundance and, above all, to self-love — the most important love of all.

Eventually, I’ll see that everything I’ve gone through has led me to the truest love of all: self-love.