The way you speak to yourself matters before you decide to enter into a relationship.
If your standards for self-talk are so low that it includes hatred, guilt, or shame, you will fall in love with anyone who gives you the bare minimum or crumbs because even that is better than what you give yourself. It won't take much.
Someone gives you an ounce of attention or offers a compliment and boom! You're all of a sudden "in love," telling your mama and friends that you think you found "the one." Is it really being in love? Or is what you're hearing better than what you've been telling yourself?
You continue to neglect yourself, and months, and sometimes years, go by with you thinking that the loving relationships you see in movies or in your surroundings are somehow just not meant for you, though your heart desperately wants it. And, you can go a whole lifetime of not knowing if things could have ever been any other way, stuck in a dead-end, sometimes even an abusive relationship.
This is why you need to raise your standards when it comes to how you treat and speak to yourself. Because if you don't, you may just fall in love with the wrong person, because everything will feel like an upgrade compared to the relationship you have with yourself.
And if you stay in an unhealthy relationship because your belief is that it's better than being alone... I'm going to truly ask you to go look in the mirror and tell that person in the reflection that they are so loved because they truly need to hear it the most.
Hear me when I say that the most romantic love story you could ever experience is the love you cultivate with yourself. Anyone else who comes into your world is complimentary.
If you want to have a conversation about how to cultivate a self-love practice in order to raise your standards and set healthy boundaries, send me a DM, and let's hop on a call.