Our teenage years are a very crucial time in our development. We experience a variety of  things, like forming new friendships and most importantly, we find our true self’s. I interviewed a couple of my classmates on the topic of self love. I wanted to know if my classmates knew what self love was and their thoughts on the topic but most importantly I wanted to know if they had Self love.  These are my findings on the topic of self love.

Jennifer
Jennifer is a 16 year old sophomore. During the day she is at school trying to keep all A’s while during the night she is working hard cleaning restaurants. “I don't always have time to stop and think about myself.”

Jennifer's definition for self love is similar to everyone’s definition, “Knowing that you are worth something.” But as many girls at the age of 16, self love is something that Jennifer struggles with, “ It comes and goes, honestly.” Shouldn't a 16 year old with good grades and good financial stability be satisfied with herself?  The answer to this question is sadly no, she still has her insecurities. Like every teenage girl, she worries about what others might say about her. “I know if I'm skinny nobody will say anything”  Why is it that many of us worry so much about what others might have to say? Why do we take other peoples opinion into consideration?.  If the meaning of self love means “knowing that you're worth something” shouldn't we believe that we are worth something and peoples opinions are insignificant? Self love is something that many teens don't seem to have, and it can be a struggle for many. This  “constant struggle”, is one that  many people seem to ignore or they just don't notice it. Like Jennifer stated, “the first step in loving others is loving yourself and accepting yourself because if you don't love yourself  how are you supposed to love anybody else?” Jennifer might struggle to find self love like many others  but if you start with small baby steps and start realizing that you're worth it,  you might be able to find self love.

Juana
Nobody is actually born with self love, self love is something that you learn to do as you grow up. Juana is a 15 year old high school sophomore ; feels that self love has a different significance in different people. “ I feel like its not taught in many places, which can make it hard to understand.”  Self love for many is an important factor in life, it can contribute to success but without self love many could fall into depression. “A symptom of depression is lack of self worth” stated Juana. When people fall into depression it makes it harder for them to realize their self worth but its not impossible to realize our self worth, with the help of yourself and others the road to self love can become easier. When asked to rate herself on how much self love she has, she gave herself a “3”. “I feel like I can get better” Juana mentioned. When I asked Juana if she had self love she quickly stated “no.” But even though at the age of 15 Juana doesn't feel like she has enough self love, she believes that she could at one moment in her life achieve this. “You don't have to find it right now but eventually you try and accomplish this” Self love won’t happen over night, you have to take small steps into achieving self love. Self love is not easy, nobody said it was, but even if you are going through hard times just remember this: “you don't have to find it right now but there should be a point in life when you do find it or get help find it because it is important in life.

Megan
“We are constantly influenced by our surroundings”. This might mean that we are influenced by our parents, siblings or friends. Megan, a 16 year old sophomore in High school feels that our levels of self love are influenced by our surroundings. She says “Self love is hard to achieve on your own.” Self love and confidence are “tied” together if you don't have confidence or self love you most likely don't have the other one. If you are not sure of yourself and people are able to see it they will most likely pick on you and slowly you will start paying attention to those comments and you will start believing that these comments are true, just because you are not confident. Just like self love, confidence will not happen over night but if you have positive mentality and surround yourself with the right people that encourage you to become a greater human being you might start changing. Megan stated that she was not “supper confident” but when she moved schools and started hanging out with a different crowd, she realized the impact that had on her. “I felt loved and appreciated and I felt like I was finally doing something right”. Once you are at a point in your life, you will realize that you have enough self love, you will be able to share it and give love, “If you don't have self love I think its hard to love someone else ”

Erica
“When you love others you love them for who they are”. The exact same thing should happen with ourselves. Erica,16 year sophomore in high school and part time worker ; believes that the only way to love yourself is to “find yourself”. Erica described self love as “accepting yourself and who you are and just appreciating the things you do.” Finding yourself at times might be hard but always remember to follow your gut not the crowd.  Loving your self for who you are is probably the best love you can give yourself.

Self love is something that many people struggle with. After interviewing my classmates I realized that society needs to work on empowering people and help them love each other for who they are. Even though most of my class mates said to have self love I still feel that its something that you can never get enough of. These were my findings of love.