They never taught me how to love myself

They never taught me how to love myself

The world is full of scientists, doctors, engineers, etc. In future, I know this world will be full of robots, too. So, we don’t need to manufacture robots, we just need humans.

For quite a long time I have been wondering why I always keep comparing myself with people. Why don’t I ever believe in myself? How is it possible for a person to never find out his/her true identity or who he/she wants to be? Why after so many efforts we still don’t love ourselves? Where is that key to self-love, self-confidence and self-realisation? Could it be that we have lost the key?
Well, I’ve realised that we were never given that key. From the beginning, we were only forced to live within the cage of comparisons. “Be better than him.” “Do better than her.” “Be smart like your neighbour’s son.” “Why aren’t you like the topper of your class?”
Kill yourself, kill your capabilities, kill all your dreams and live life like someone else. Society, the schools, and our own families, never liked us for who we are. They always set goals for us, raised their expectations and never cared about our potential. They made us believe that we are useless if we are something other than winners.
We thus lost ourselves and all of our confidence because of their selfishness and, still, they want us to be thankful and remain indebted to our schools and families and our societies, forever.
Perhaps I’ll be indebted to my school for teaching me how to read, write and talk. They taught me the history of our country and the formulas for solving equations, they taught me chemical reactions and taught me how much land we occupy. But they failed to teach me where to use this information. I could have learned all these things at home, on my phone. Now, I realise that they forgot to teach me how to love myself, they never told me how to be happy, they never taught me how to make friends, and they never said a word about how to express myself. And when I didn’t learn these things, did I learn anything at all? So, should I be thankful because I was able to learn mathematics and history in school?
Now, I teach other kids sometimes (I am not a teacher but I like teaching). I also teach them science, geography, political science, and civics. Initially I also used to scold them if they failed to memorise a few questions, because I was once scolded, too. I, too, used to judge them when they didn’t know an answer because I was once judged, too. I never asked them what they truly wanted in life, or what their purpose in life was because no one ever asked me that. How could have I? How could I have taught them how they can love themselves when I didn’t know that. How could I have given them the secret to happiness when I didn’t know if there was any. But at the same time, my behaviour forced me to think if I was doing the same things to the kids that my school once did with me. Did that mean they succeeded in making me who they wanted me to be? But at least I was worried about it. At least I regretted doing these things. I regretted teaching the kids that way. Did my school ever regret it? No, they haven’t.
However, they haven’t succeeded in making me a robot, and they never will. Because now, after growing up, after meeting new people, new teachers, and new friends who taught me how to love myself, I am able to feel even more deeply and tenderly. I now tell my little students that they are the best, that they don’t have to be like anyone else, that they can be whoever they want to be, that they deserve to be happy, and that they, too, are capable of achieving great heights in life, only because now my teachers tell me that I, too, can.
My only point is that instead of forcing children to be a certain way, just teach them how they can enhance their potential. Instead of forcing them to be good at everything, just teach them how to find their true aim in life and follow that aim forever. Instead of making them feel less by comparing them with other kids, just tell them how they can be their kind of best. Instead of making them hate others, just teach them how to love themselves. Because the world is full of scientists, doctors, engineers, etc. In future, I know this world will be full of robots, too. So, we don’t need to manufacture robots, we just need humans. We need kindness, love and support. We need people who can feel. Share love even more than knowledge because that’s what we all need.

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