- Erica Rankin
- Posts
- đ Why external things won't make you love yourself
đ Why external things won't make you love yourself
I tried to pay my way into loving myself but failed miserably
Hey Flawsome Human,
You may or may not have rolled your eyes at the subject line of this weeks email, but stick with me - I think itâs an important topic.
âSelf-loveâ gets thrown around a lot but itâs a GIGANTIC piece of our lifeâs puzzle, and itâs something that we canât get externally.
You can truly only give yourself this one gift.

I spent most of my life hating myself (hate is a strong word - but I truly, did not like myself) and I tried to âfixâ everything about me.
Only recently did I realize that no surgery or achievement will make me truly fulfilled & make me love & accept myself.
These are just some thoughts from my personal experiences, take what you need today.
đŤ WHY YOU CANâT RELY ON EXTERNAL THINGS TO MAKE YOU LOVE YOURSELF OR FEEL FULFILLED đŤ
1ď¸âŁ Youâre always going to be chasing
I am guilty of this. Deeply guilty. I was fixated on my appearance for most of my 20s (got numerous surgeries & spent quite a bit on them) and I always believed that I would love myself when I looked a certain way.
It didnât matter what I did, I was never happy. It was never enough.
Same goes for achievements or goals; even when I crossed that finish line, my eyes were already looking ahead at the next milestone. Goals are great but you canât depend on them to validate you.
2ď¸âŁ Your self-love will always fluctuate
When youâre depending on external things to validate you, and your self-worth, youâre always going to be on unsteady grounds. If things are going great, youâll reach one extreme (woooo), and the opposite is also true; youâll come crashing down.
Itâs exhausting living like this & it will make those down periods harder than they need to be.
3ď¸âŁ Youâre going to be disappointed
You canât rely on others to validate you. You canât expect people to tell you your worth, or the value you bring into this world. Because if it doesnât happen, youâre gonna be disappointed.
You need to recognize this yourself, and understand that outside opinions donât matter.
If someone happens to confirm your beliefs - great, but that doesnât change how you feel about yourself, and youâre not dependent on those comments.
If youâre interested in hearing my full self-love journey (and my previous obsession with perfection), I cover it on this weeks podcast episode:
Have a great rest of your week. đ
Stay Flawsome,
-Erica