I Am Worthy Of Love

I am worthy of love.

I find this affirmation to be so powerful because it reminds us that we all deserve to be loved, and that we don't have to earn the right to be loved.  It is so easy to fall into the trap of believing we are unworthy or undeserving of love, especially when struggling with an eating disorder.  Eating disorders feed off of our fear of being unlovable - they tell us that if we don't act and look perfect, then we are undeserving of other people's love as well as our own.  They tell us that they have the solution for how to achieve perfection and that once we've followed their rules and restrictions, we will finally have earned the chance to be loved and feel lovable.  But the truth of the matter is that this is another eating disorder lie - it tells us that it will make us feel worthy of love once we achieve x, y and z, but then it makes us feel shame for having an eating disorder in the first place.  Then, not only do we never achieve the perfection our eating disorders promised us, but we feel ashamed of ourselves for once again believing the eating disorder.  All of this adds up to self-hatred and a belief that we are so broken that we don't deserve to be loved by others.

And this is why this simple statement is so powerful - it directly challenges the eating disorder's message that we have to earn the right to be loved, and that to earn this we must first achieve perfection.  These words aver that just by being human and by being ourselves we are innately worthy of love.  Retraining ourselves to believe that we are worthwhile and worthy of love is a powerful step on our road of recovery because we wrestle some power away from our eating disorders:  rather than believing we need our eating disorder in order to earn the love of others, we realize that we are worthwhile people just by being ourselves and that we can start stepping away from the isolation of our eating disorders and into the company and companionship of friends, family and loved ones who love us for our authentic, natural selves.

Ultimately, reminding ourselves of our innate worth reminds us that we deserve to be loved by ourselves and others and that we don't need our eating disorders sending us running in circles to earn love anymore.  Let us step away from the self-destructive cycle and trust that we are all unique, valuable and worthy people who deserve to love and be loved in return!

May you all accept and experience love today,

Taylor