06/16/2026
There is one moment in my life I will never forget.
Many years ago, my counselor looked at me and asked a simple question.
“How much do you love yourself?”
Without hesitation, I answered, “I hate myself.”
The words came out so naturally that I didn’t even think about them.
When I got home, I sat in complete embarrassment. Not only had I felt that way—I had actually said it out loud. For the first time, I heard the truth of my own pain.
That moment became one of the most defining moments of my life.
I decided something had to change.
The problem was… I had no idea how.
No one had ever taught me how to love myself.
But then I began asking a different question.
Are any of us ever truly taught how to love ourselves?
Most parents don’t teach it because no one taught them. We simply assume that self-love is something we’re born knowing.
It isn’t.
When children grow up in dysfunctional homes, they don’t stop loving their parents.
They stop loving themselves.
They learn to believe they aren’t enough.
They learn to silence their needs.
They learn that their worth depends on keeping the peace, pleasing others, or simply surviving.
Loving yourself isn’t selfish.
It isn’t arrogance.
And it certainly isn’t ego.
Authentic self-love is one of the healthiest things a human being can develop.
Ironically, ego is often the mask we wear when we don’t truly love ourselves. It’s easier to project confidence than to admit we’re hurting.
I tell my clients every single day:
The most important relationship you will ever have is the relationship you have with yourself.
So I ask them a question.
“On a scale from 1 to 10… how much do you genuinely love yourself?”
Most people immediately answer, “Ten.”
But sometimes I gently challenge them.
Because if you truly loved yourself deeply, would you constantly criticize yourself?
Would you stay in relationships that diminish you?
Would you abandon your own needs?
Would you believe you aren’t worthy?
Sometimes the bravest answer isn’t “ten.”
Sometimes the bravest answer is…
“I don’t know if I love myself at all.”
Because you cannot change what you refuse to acknowledge.
The moment you can honestly say, “I don’t love myself the way I deserve,” shame begins to lose its grip.
Awareness is not failure.
Awareness is the beginning of healing.
For me, everything changed the day I stopped pretending… and finally told the truth.
That single sentence—
“I hate myself.”
became the first step toward learning to say…
“I am finally learning to love the person I’ve been with all along.”