Self-acceptance in recovery is all about taking a step back from your self-loathing and accepting yourself as a human being. It’s not about loving yourself or even liking yourself, it’s just about realizing that you aren’t the worst person in the world. And that is so. damn. powerful. Seriously, if you deal with self-loathing, I urge you to set aside lofty goals of self-love, not because you’ll never get there, but because you probably need to work on self-acceptance first. It’s hard to love someone you kinda secretly (or not so secretly) hate. If you can accept yourself for who you are, even if you don’t like who you are, then you’ll be that much closer to being able to love yourself for you who are. Eventually. I made a neat little video about this for HealthyPlace, feel free to check it out: Self-Acceptance in Recovery When You Can’t Muster Self-Love.