God & Man

I hear it from people everywhere, their voices condescending: “How can you expect anyone to love you if you can’t love yourself?”

A few years ago, I believed them. I truly thought that if I did not learn to value myself, I would end up alone. And as someone who was ridden with depression and anxiety, that’s really what it seemed like — that I was destined to become the cat-loving spinster that I was taught to fear, that I never had a chance of finding my forever person because I couldn’t even look myself in the eye in the mirror.