You and I are a lot alike. We are both reading these words.
How we interpret what comes next affects what follows.
You are ugly. You are no good. You fail at everything you do. You are worthless.
How do you feel reading that? Do you believe it? You do? STOP.
I believe you are better than that. Find your shovel and sharpen your claws and dig your way out of that mindset. Climb up out of that grave of despair and self-loathing you created. I need YOU to believe you are better than you think.
Start with shutting the door on those thoughts above and replace them with the light and love that already surrounds you. It is out there, waiting for you to see it. Love is not a bird you can catch. It is smoke. It is fog. It is oxygen. It is all around you. You simply need to breathe. Move your mind toward it, breathe it in with a quiet mind in a quiet space. It fills your heart with a sense of completeness, and desire to share that feeling with others.
Know that you are better than your own self-criticism or self-doubt. Open the door to the possibility that you are wrong about the bad stuff. Harness the love that's out there. Become part of it. Look for love and light in the kind moment of a stranger, a smile exchanged with a new friend, a thoughtful action of someone in your orbit. Build on that. And breathe.
Be the light. Don't wait for it to find you. Shine from within. You are beautiful. I know it. So should you.