Monday, August 31, 2026
I love being 52. I loved being 22. And I know I’ll love being 82.
I love being 155 pounds. I cannot say I showed much love to my 181-pound self; but if I did plump up again, I’d love that version too.
If you love your new and improved self, then your “old and unimproved” self will feel neglected and jilted. If you love your skinny body over your fat body, your fat body will feel ugly and unloved.
I had a full, thick head of hair at 22. I loved it, probably took it for granted, and at times I didn’t love it, especially on hot days when it was so thick and black. But that’s part of it.
Now, I have a shiny, perfectly symmetrical bald head. I love it, except when I hit my head and have no protection up there. But that’s part of it.
Love yourself as you are. We love an image of ourselves—my rich self, my skinny self, my young self, my improved self, my accomplished self.
I love any version. I even love my dying self, which is who I am right now. I am dying now and have always been dying, since I was conceived.
If you don’t love your dying self, you’ll never experience true living love, which loves all stages. Unconditional love is stage-less and transcendent. It loves all things, all phases, all transitions.
It’s equalizing, never penalizing.
Please love your younger self if you forgot to when you were young. You always have a chance to accept who you are in all phases. To hold an image of yourself as “better or worse” is not a real union, but a grudge.
It’s in sickness and in health; for richer or for poorer; and until death.
In all phases and in all conditions, I vow to love who I AM.