Read This Before You Chase Love Again

I used to think love was something I had to earn.

If I was easygoing enough, they’d stay.
If I gave enough, they’d choose me.
If I loved them hard enough, maybe they’d love me back the same way.

So I poured myself into people who gave me the bare minimum. I accepted love that felt uncertain, inconsistent, and conditional—because deep down, I thought that’s all I was worthy of.

But one day, I had a realization that hit me like a punch to the gut:

The way people love you is not a reflection of your worth. It’s a reflection of their capacity.

Read that again.

Some people can only meet you as deeply as they’ve met themselves. Some people are carrying wounds that don’t allow them to show up the way you deserve. And some people… were never meant to love you the way you needed them to.

And none of that has anything to do with you.

Because you? You are already worthy of deep, steady, wholehearted love.
But first—you have to give that love to yourself.

Not in the cliché, "take yourself on a date" kind of way (though, hey, that’s nice too). I’m talking about real, unconditional self-love—the kind that refuses to settle, that sets standards, that stops chasing people who make you feel like you have to earn a seat at the table.

The love you’re looking for? It starts with you.

You’ve always been enough,
Joanna