Gaining Strength from my weakness

I’ve done this to myself, this pain that I feel.
No, it’s not physical; it hurts in my heart.
Knowing that I don’t love myself,
Keeps me from loving the one that I want to love.
The place that I’m at now, I said I’d never go back to.
But I’m here, and it hurts.
The darkness of depression pulls at my heart.
Tells me that I’m not worth loving.
Tells me that no one will be attracted to me
I wallow in my self-pity
I am conscious of the thoughts that run through my head
The thoughts of why am I living?
Who will love me?
Then comes the thought, I live because I am loved.
There are people who love me
People I’ve never met
People whom I’ve known all my life
When I hear the words “I love you” I know why I live
I look at myself in the mirror
I may not like what I see, but through all the pain and hurt
There is a woman of strength.
The light in my soul shines through the dark depression
I smile through my hurt
I know I’m loved.
I look into my own eyes and see a beautiful person.
A person that I love.
The longer I look, the less it hurts;
The less I wallow;
The more I begin to love the person that I am.
No one is like me. I am my own.
So when I say “I love you” to the one I want to love,
I can say it because I finally love myself and can give of myself to him.