People often tell each other: “A life worth living is one lived for others.” …There may be no such thing as a perfect purpose in life, but the ultimate goal of a meaningful life is to spread goodness and contribute positive values to the world around us.
Yet… living for others does not mean sacrificing oneself to the point of forgetting your own soul and emotions. As the 670th letter in Miêu Công Tử’s “1999 Letters to Myself” states: “Because of others’ judgments, we dull our sharpness, discard parts of our personality; over time, we become unclear whether we are living for ourselves or merely performing for others.”
Perhaps that is why we have all heard the saying: “Love yourself before you love others.” Loving yourself means learning to respect and take responsibility for yourself. Only when we learn to love ourselves can we truly love others and live for them in a meaningful, wholehearted way. As Louise L. Hay once said: “Loving yourself is not selfish. That love cleanses us so we can love ourselves enough to know how to love others.”
In this beautiful, love-filled world, we cannot live solely for ourselves without noticing those around us, nor can we live entirely for others while neglecting our own responsibilities. The question is: what does it mean to live “enough”? How can we balance living for ourselves and living for others?
Remember, the first essential step to learning to love yourself is to listen to the voice of reason. While love is a matter of emotion and heart, the heart has no brain; it cannot perceive things objectively and is often blind. When we continuously give love and sacrifice without expecting anything in return, we are neglecting reason, neglecting ourselves. Do not let your kindness and sacrifice become taken-for-granted acts.
Those who love themselves strive for balance, equality in relationships, and mutual exchange. Only then can we recognize who truly values us and who genuinely matters. Giving and receiving is natural—a law of life! Human energy and time are limited; they cannot be spread evenly to everyone. We should focus on the right people at the right time to preserve what is truly worth keeping. Even great figures cannot share their love with all of humanity. “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”
Most of us are ordinary people. Understand yourself, live for yourself, and live for what truly deserves it!
