Let's be honest. Loving yourself does not mean standing in front of the mirror and repeating: "I am a goddess" until your mascara runs from happiness. It is about not merging with the first person you meet just because he sent you an emoji at 3 am. It is about not losing yourself in a relationship, not dissolving in other people's desires, not enduring if it hurts. Even if he is cute. Even if he says that "there are no others like you."

What is self-love in practice?
Self-love is not narcissism. It is an internal support. It is when you know who you are and why you need a man at all. Not to "complete you into a person", but to share the thrill of life.

This is about first learning to be with yourself: alone, sad, happy. To hear yourself, your desires, your boundaries. And only then are you truly ready for a meeting, and not for "renting yourself out for attention".

Why can't you build healthy love without this?
Because if you are not in harmony with yourself, you will either demand the impossible from your partner (fill my emptiness, make me happy, give me meaning), or cling to him out of fear of being alone.

And this is not about love. This is about dependence. And dependence is not the best basis for intimacy, don't you think?

And what about love for another?
Loving another is not sacrifice. It is when you want to give, because you have something to give from. When you know how to be close, but not lose yourself. When you can be honest, open, vulnerable, because you know: you are okay, even if he leaves.

Love for another begins with the ability to be real. And being real is scary if you do not accept yourself.

So, myth or truth?
Love for yourself is not a magic ticket to a happy relationship. But without it, you will most likely find yourself on a train that has long since derailed. And yes, love for yourself is not the final destination. It is the starting point. The start of a deep, mature relationship, where no one saves, complements, or remakes anyone.

They simply love. Because next to you is not a half. But a whole person.