"Self-love is hard when you keep comparing your flaws to other's gifts."

I often feel insecure about my physique. I feel like nothing when I compare myself to others. For many times it seems like I could never stop asking myself: 

Why is he/she prettier or taller?

Why does he have better skin / 20-20 vision / a smaller nose / sweeter lips / gorgeous hair / slimmer body? Why his / her body is so... glowing?

How come such a perfect person exists?

You know people always say there's no such thing as PERFECTION. Honestly, I don't think that's true - there are SOME people whom I think, are truly GIFTED with PERFECTION such as Taylor Swift or Keita Machida.

Here's what I believe though: we are all GIFTED. Some are lucky to be gifted more, some less, but that is fine. One sure thing is: each of us AT LEAST HAS ONE GIFT.

A gift is a gift. It is a present. When I didn't believe this, I overlooked my gift. And it was hard because I kept comparing myself to other people whose gifts are different from mine. I felt miserable and disappointed. They are gifted with good physiques. I'm not gifted on that part. It took almost a decade to fully discover, accept and cultivate my own present: I can make you feel better just by talking to you, verbally or through written words. I am what's called "the people person". I'm GIFTED in communication (shoutout to fellow Aquarians and idols, who are also gifted in communication: Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres!)

Obviously, I don't have the body cut to be a movie star. But I can still be a star - we all can, once the gift is discovered, accepted, and CULTIVATED. Have you found your gift? If you have, let yours SHINES! If you haven't, what are you waiting for? Start digging in right now. Most of us wasting our precious time admiring other people's gifts, while completely ignoring ours.

Does this mean I no longer feel insecure? I wish. I still have that feeling strikes me many times, the only difference now is that I've learnt to APPRECIATE other's gifts and mine as well because both are EQUALLY precious.

It's been a challenging journey to self-love. Nevertheless, the world can't love you if you hate yourself.