You Have to Learn to Love Yourself Again

I needed to talk with somebody

I had a meeting with a dear friend

This week I have been telling you of troubles that I have been facing over the past few months.

• My wife has been away. She will be home in a couple of months, after a trip for a total of 6 months.
• Our nephew moved in with us and has been very disruptful to the household
• Emotional Eating
• My Loose Skin discovery

All of this has added up to huge stress and has greatly affected my ability to fast and lose weight effectively this year.

Recently things have been getting a little better, but I am so looking forward to the return of my wife when we can really bring all of this to a resolution.

The meeting

As I noted above, with all of these troubles, I needed somebody to talk with. I don’t really have any adult companionship in the house, and I miss that. I need a mature person to bounce ideas off of. That is important to me.

Feyma, my wife, suggested that I should get together with our dear friend, Bebe. Bebe was my language teacher for 4 years when I decided to learn how to speak Bisaya, the local language where I live. Bebe is like a sister to me, and my wife was spot on with her suggestion.

Last weekend we met

Last weekend Bebe and I met at Starbucks for some coffee and a long talk. I think we were there for at least 2 hours, maybe more.

I laid out all of my problems to Bebe and asked for her suggestions and advice. Bebe was kind, as she always is.

She also offered some really sage advice.

The final advice that she gave me was a single line. That line kind of summed up everything she had already told me.

Bebe said:

Bob, you have to learn how to love yourself again.

It struck me. She was right.

I have always been a confident and upbeat person

Throughout my life, I have tried to have a positive attitude. I have tried to see the glass as half full, never half empty. I was confident, self-assured.

But, with all of the negativity recently, when Bebe said that I realized that I was not that person any longer. I used to love myself. I no longer did. I was just doing whatever I could to make it through the ordeal. I did not put my needs first. I just worried and suffered.

You have to learn how to love yourself again.

Pretty daunting advice, don’t you think. It hit me hard, and it was true.

I am not sure how far I have come on that (it has been less than a week), but I do know that I am feeling better, and I am making progress toward improving things here.

In addition to Bebe, Feyma has also been helping me deal with these issues. It makes me feel guilty to unload my problems on Feyma, because she is in Alaska working hard, and I don’t want to burden her. But, I was at a point where I did not know what to do anymore. I might not have even been able to make it until Feyma‘s return. That is how bad I felt.

So, things are moving forward. If Bebe is reading this, I have to thank her for sharing her sage words with me, especially that line that I shared.

I will make it. I will also learn how to love myself again.