Self-love simply put is being kind to yourself. Believe it or not if you experience mental pain then you are aware that tender self-loving is required to overcome it. If you didn't care about your mental pain then you would be seriously ill. I sense you are more self-loving than you are conscious of and give yourself credit for.

CARE for yourself, eat healthily and exercise daily.

Be KIND to yourself, treat/reward yourself when you achieve excellence regardless of the size of, and only ever positive self-talk, be optimistic because science has proven that optimistic people (people who look on the bright side of life) are the happiest people (sadly for most, if not all, and through no fault of their own, depression is a pessimists state of mind).

i like to think of myself like a small puppy, or a growing plant LOL. as ridiculous as it sounds. but treat yourself kind like pete said. say only nice things to yourself, and know that youre human and we all make mistakes. don't be so hard on yourself, im sure youre doing great

Maybe start small...most days I'm still working on trying to like myself as a person...I'm getting there.