Do you believe you are enough?
I have struggled with this ever since I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at age 19. Learning to love yourself is challenging-especially when you are chronically ill (and I believe mental illness falls in that category.)
Living with chronic illness often means you can’t accomplish daily life activities as easily or consistently. You may need help and that may cause you to think you are not enough. Maybe even like you are a burden to those you love.
If you feel like your worth is less than “normal” people, then you probably don’t feel you are enough. And feeling inadequate can make self love a goal out of your reach.
But the need to be loved is part of our human nature. A common thread of the human condition. It spans all religions and ways of thinking.
I’ve put together a list of the most powerful self-love quotes. Reading them to yourself can help you break through the barrier of self-doubt and inadequacy that living with a chronic or mental illness can cause.
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✅ Self-Love Quotes from Brene Brown
Brene Brown is a research professor who has spent over 20 years studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is the speaker of one of the Top 5 TED talks of all time, “The Power of Vulnerability.”
Here are some of my favorite quotes from her . . .
“You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” –Brene Brown
“To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.” –Brene Brown
“Want to be happy? Stop trying to be perfect.” –Brene Brown
“Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves even when we risk disappointing others.” –Brene Brown
“Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable.” –Brene Brown
“Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; embrace who you are.” –Brene Brown
“I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.” –Brene Brown
“Those who have a strong sense of love and belonging have the courage to be imperfect.” –Brene Brown
✅ My Favorite “You Are Enough” Quotes
As a former English teacher, I love collecting quotes about life. And it seems that living with chronic illness (and Bipolar 1 disorder) have fueled my passion for curating lists of powerful quotes even more.
Holding fast to the belief that I AM enough has proved more challenging as the struggles in life just keep coming.
But through therapy I have learned to create habits and routines to build up the love I feel for myself. I hope this list helps you start feeling that way too.
“If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” –Fred Rogers
“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” –Mark Twain
“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.” –Robert Morley
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” –Lucille Ball
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” –Buddha
This goes back to believing “you are enough”
“No other love no matter how genuine it is, can fulfill one’s heart better than unconditional self-love.” – Edmond Mbiaka
“To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance” – Oscar Wilde
“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.” –Charles Bukowski
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” –Eleanor Roosevelt
“When we fulfill our function, which is to truly love ourselves and share love with others, then true happiness sets in.” – Gabrielle Bernstein
“Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.” –Roy T. Bennett
“Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.” –Beau Taplin
“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
✅ Self Reflection Quotes
Feeling like you are enough is not something you can just tell yourself to do. It’s a journey for sure.
Part of that journey requires self-reflection.
Understanding more about yourself and how you got to where you are now is very powerful and can lead you to discover things about yourself that were hiding in the shadows of your subconscious.
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” –Malcolm S. Forbes
“The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.” –Maya Angelou
“It’s surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you’re not comfortable within yourself, you can’t be comfortable with others.” –Sidney J. Harris
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” –Harvey Fierstein
“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” –Louise L. Hay
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” –Carl Gustav Jung
“If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” – Barbara De Angelis
More Inspirational Quotes to Build Self-Confidence . . .
✅ What Does “You Are Enough” Actually Mean?
The phrase “You Are Enough” has become a popular quote shared often on social media and places like Pinterest. But it’s not obvious to everyone who comes across this self-love quote exactly what it means–especially in their own life.
Believing you are enough is the very foundation of self love.
“You Are Enough” means . . .
1. You are one-of-a-kind and have things to offer that no one else in this world can duplicate.
This is true whether you can pinpoint your uniqueness and how it benefits the world or if you cannot. That uniqueness is often a combination of your personality traits, talents, and perspective.
All the lives of anyone you have ever crossed paths with have been impacted in a positive way.
“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.” –Mary Dunbar
2. Who you are is exactly who you were made to be.
We often struggle to love ourselves because our flaws and shortcomings seem to sit in the forefront of our minds. And they can seem so big and terrible that it is almost impossible to see our strengths.
“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.” –Confucius
3. Your worthiness of love is not dependent on being perfect.
Perfection should not be our goal in life.
Our imperfection allows us to journey through life overcoming obstacles and growing in ways that show us our strengths and build our self-confidence. We could not achieve this satisfaction of accomplishment if we started out “perfect.”
“When you make a mistake, respond to yourself in a loving way rather than a self-shaming way.” –Ellie Holcomb
4. Being “enough” does NOT mean you can walk through life alone and without help from others.
It is not a weakness to need help at times. We are not meant to be alone and work through challenges on our own.
Many times the limitations of our chronic conditions require us to reach out for help which can cause you to believe you are not enough. But your self-worth is not tied to how much help you need throughout your life.
“Accepting help is it’s own kind of strength.” –Kiera Cass
5. Your self-worth is not dependent on how much you have “accomplished.”
Success is often defined with titles, degrees, money, and possessions. Yet you can have all of these things and still feel like you are not enough.
Just think of the lives of celebrities. They can acquire all of these things yet still feel alone. And we see many who turn to drugs and harmful behaviors because they do not love themselves.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
✅ How to Practice Self-Love
Self-doubt and feeling like we aren’t enough is often a “reaction” to our life circumstances and negative experiences. You have to be “proactive” if you want to overcome this.
That is why learning to practice self-love is super important. Loving and accepting yourself for who you are doesn’t happen overnight.
Here are some ways to start the process . . .
Saying Affirmations
Using affirmations is a great place to start because it is easy and effective.
At first it may seem silly that just repeating certain statements will actually have an affect on how you feel about yourself. Especially since affirmations aren’t necessarily what you “believe” in that moment.
Practicing affirmations is kind of like saving money. Each time you say an affirmation, it’s like depositing money in your bank account.
It may seem too small to matter in that moment, but after a while your savings grows and at some point you see yourself as wealthy.
It works that way when using affirmations.
Making this a daily self-confidence exercise makes “deposits” in your self-worth. And after reading these positive statements over and over, you start to see yourself as “wealthy”—and that you ARE enough.
Learning how to write your own affirmations is easy. Here is a great list of positive affirmations to get you started.
Journaling
Before you say, “journaling isn’t for me” (something I myself have said,) hear me out. There are many different ways to journal.
You can “free write” and just put whatever thoughts you have in your head onto paper.
But you can also use journal prompts that are specifically designed for you to reflect, identify negative thoughts, and discover new perspectives on how you see yourself.
Read Self-Love Quotes
Somewhat like saying affirmations, you can use quotes as a daily self-love activity.
Reading the quotes regularly and even hanging them up around your living space is a great way to make “deposits” in your “self-worth” account.
Since quotes are written by other people, it can give you a sense of community knowing you are not alone in your struggles.
✅ Learning to Love Yourself Takes Time
We all start off in different places because our paths are unique to our own struggles. But one thing we do share is that we are deserving of love.
That love we deserve . . .
has to begin in our own hearts.
Seeing a professional, like a psychologist or counselor, for therapy can help you tremendously. Strive for progress, not perfection and take baby steps.
Learning to talk to yourself in a positive way and identify and change negative thought patterns is also a way to start practicing self-love.
I have a collection of free mental health printable worksheets in my Resource Library that can help you do exactly this.
Use the button below to sign up to receive and receive the password to get instant access. Download as many as you’d like. 💕
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