As a kid, all I wanted was for my father to be in my life and to love me. I wanted him to be there for my mother, brother, and me. But that wasn’t to be.

For a long time, I searched high and low and looked for approval and love in other people. I’d find a few months of joy, but then things would always fall apart.

And I didn’t understand why.

One of the hardest lessons for me to learn was to stop looking for approval and love from other people. Once I began to love myself, love who I was (all of me), and to approve of myself, I began to find peace and joy in my life.

Chasing after others for acceptance and love was a never-ending cycle of disappointed. How could I find in someone else what I didn’t have from within?

I can’t go back in time and relive my childhood and fix my relationship with my father. But what I can do is to embrace who I am today, find the joy in who I’ve become, and to embrace myself each and every day.

For today, I hope you discover the joy of finding yourself and falling into love with yourself.

If there is any message I can share with you, it would be to make the time to build a relationship with yourself. What do you like to do? What calms you when you’re scared? How do you feel? Why do you feel that way? And what can you do each day to help you overcome your past?

Finding the answers to these questions might take a lifetime, but it will start you on the most exciting and fulfilling journey of your life.

Like what you’ve read? Be sure to check out my other posts in my Let Go and Be Free blog.