How does love affect your health?
Dear Reader,
First, what you are feeling is real. It is valid. It is happening right now. Second, this is an opinion piece and it is not intended to belittle your pain in any way. I simply want to share a perspective, in hope you will find a little bit more clarity as you navigate love.
Love may be the one thing that may answer your dying void. And that love should be from yourself to yourself before anyone else.
I’ve encountered a lot of people and experienced first hand the disappointment of love. Seeking love in all the wrong places is not the way to go. it is the root cause of disappointment. I think we are all guilty in trying to find love and affirmations from others because maybe we just don’t trust ourselves as much as we should be.
Everyone has their own mind. Everyone has feelings and emotions. Everyone has thoughts that they don’t always share. That is just fact. We are who we are and we sometimes are too afraid to expose ourselves to the world because we fear judgment. We fear we may not be loved for who we are. And this fear is the culprit of a lot of depression and anxiety we see in the world today.
Mental health is mental. You are the only person who has the key to your mind, your thoughts, and your feelings. While we try so hard to control our surroundings to be fitting to what we think is best, we lose track of the most important control we should be working on – our mind.
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
The one place we should be nurturing and investing in is the love we have for ourselves. Because no one knows us better than ourselves, we ultimately, have the last say in who is in and out of our lives. We have the last say of what we want out of life. At the end of the day, we all know, that no one will ever be able to take care of ourselves better than ourselves. If you can’t say that about yourself, then maybe you need a moment to appreciate who you are as a person and love that person, unconditionally.
I know I can do my best to take care of you. I know I will give as much as I am able to get you to being where you want to be. But if you are unwilling to love yourself, invest in yourself, and be compassionate to yourself – the external care you receive, from me, your partner, your family and friends, can only go so far.
The next thing about love that I find interesting is that we want the same kind love from another person. We want to have that sense of belonging, home. We’re humans, this is how we are programed.
As what you hear and read everywhere, I do think it is true that in order for you to find true love, you really have to love yourself. Because in human interactions there are connections, chemistry, and inclusion. We want to connect to people who are similar to us, who are different and interesting, who are appealing and inclusive.
To sum it all up, wellbeing, good health, being happy, and pain free are all dependent on how much we care and love ourselves. It is only then, that we see value in the quality of relationships we have with other people. It is only then, that we see the importance of healthcare, of taking actions to utilizing alternative medicine like acupuncture to help us heal.
Everyone is healing. Everyone is learning. Everyone is growing.
Whatever it is that you are thinking as you are reading this, know that you are not alone.
Love,
Amy
