Thank you so much for all o your help! Hearing that some of you have learned to love yourself makes me feel like maybe it is possible.

The book suggestions are awesome. I will definitely check those out as a starting (and maybe ending!) point.

Hearing all of your support motivates me even more to try to love myself.

I know deep down that I am a good person but there are days I also wonder why in the world I am so fucked in the head so yes I love myself but not so fond of myself some days

wow shelly 4 after reading that i now love my self yes i can do it. thanks you have inspired me

I like to get in early and beat up on myself before a queue forms.

Accepting being BP was important to my sense of self love. I believe you have to love yourself to truly love others.
Susan

i replace the bad ones, forcibly! with short quick sentences. i am good. i am great. life is good. life is great. i am beautiful. unfortunately neg thoughts seem to be part of the deal, but if you can cut them at the quick, it does help some.

I am my worse enemy

Yes, Troppo, one of my silly one-liners when people are a bit down on themselves is to say to them, "Don't put yourself down like that - let us do it for you!! lol"

I only love myself on days that end in "Z". Seriously, I only "know" I love myself when I am hypomanic. But it stems from long-term issues, etc.

I tend to love others to Death, oddly hoping it will win me some kind of Prize of self-love, by seeing how "Good" I can be. But self-love is not based on that, and I know it.

Interestingly, all the "voices in my head" that manifest themselves to me are positive ones, "people" or "parts of me" that really Love me, and that has pulled me through some hard years. My "voices" are Never hurtful to me.

Still I struggle, and it Shows, in real life. Fight on! :)

I love myself.

I love my family and friends.

I love my enemies.

Allie, I'm with you! One of the things that I'm trying to work on is restructuring such thoughts. When I was in a day program, they made me define labels when I said I was stupid. I had to come up with evidence for and against every negative thought. It helps to figure out the middle ground. I think it's going to take a LOT of practice for me to get it permanently.

Allie, I'm currently in a day program and they had us do a journaling exercise where we had to write about how others view us and how we view ourselves and for the most part, although people generally think very highly of me, I was very negative. Then they had us replace each negative thought about ourselves with a positive one by writing a gratitude list- listing out everything we are thankful for. It is going to take me a lot of practice to learn to love me.

I have terrible self-esteem and cannot EVER imagine looking into a mirror and telling myself that I love me. Ugh.....the thought of it seems so foreign to me.

Sometimes I think that I can be kind, but then I also know that I'm a freaking bitch at times, too. I am very hard on myself, and I know I don't cut myself a break for the things I do wrong. I carry a lot of guilt and think I am crap because of everything.

I think this is also one of the big keys to why I don't know if I'll ever be truly happy. I don't think I can ever love myself. But I do love others. It's not true when people say you can't love others unless you love yourself.

i used to love me alot more than i do now.
i dont think that i love myself but i dont hate myslef either.
theres things i like alot about myself but i hate that i sometimes get judgemental thoughts and i dont even know where they come from becasue thats not me at all.
im very loving and accepting.
kind and sweet natured
this illness whichever one i have makes me do and think things that makes me not like myself very much.
but the true me i like that a lot.
i used to love people so much that i couldnt really see thier flaws and this may sound weird but people used to glow when i looked at them and i had an overwhelming love for them.
now it seems like all i can see is flaws and i have to try hard to jsut focus on their good qualities...
getting "burned" alot can do that to you.
heres a strange one for you.
the unlce who was my step day who used to beat me when i was a kid is here in nc with my dad and me, and i forgave him a few years back but still feel uncomfortable around him , but today i was actually laughing with him and it was a really strange feeling because i went so many years always crying in his presence.
i tend to love people although its not agape love.... id probaly wouldnt die for these people.
but its a platonic kind of love.
i tend to love others more than myself.
its like situational love wiht myself.
sometimes when im doing well i love myself, but when i keep having episodes or when i get all depressed i tend to not like myself very much.

I not only love myself. I sleep with myself, have sex with myself, have some of the most interesting conversations with myself.

I give myself encouragement every day telling myself "You are going to have an awesome day" and "no that outfit doesn't look gay"