Self-Love

​Self-Love
I was considering something this morning which often appears to be either neglected or a given.  It is sometimes taken to the other extreme too where someone has an exalted opinion of themselves.  I am thinking of self-love.
I reckon it is really necessary.  Not the type that says I am better than you, but the type where someone is comfortable in their own skin.  Everyone I know nourishes and looks after their body.  Ok sometimes it needs to be beaten into submission to achieve an aim that would be unattainable otherwise, but I still look after myself.  Even satisfying cravings that may do more harm than good are followed up, because of the perceived good they do.
They reckon you can tell a man is on the level if his bubble is in the middle.  I well and truly know I am on the level.  I want to be something I am not, but I do not want to be something that I am not that is suggested by someone pursuing imaginary dreams.
For me, self-love is a good thing.  How can I love others if I do not love myself?  Yet it has been like putting together a jigsaw only to find a piece was missing. Only when the piece was found was the picture complete. 
Most people it seems do not have a problem with self-love.  It is a given.  It just happens.  But some do have a problem with it.  Behaviour gives them away.
From my experience it seems some are really hard on others.  At face value their behaviour indicates others never measure up to the standards they have set, which is the same ones they have set for themselves.  They are hard on others because they are hard on themselves.  A lack of self-acceptance.  Trying to attain an ideal that is unattainable via the way they are going about it.  That can be so frustrating.  Motives are good, but the building is built on unsteady foundations.  For some it is just a walk away thing.  Not associating.  Not investing the time in what could be, rather than what is.
Others have an opinion of themselves built on the opinion of others.  Self-worth comes from what others think of them.  I reckon that would make life so hard.   In this nation, (and it seems to be endemic the world over), we have the tall poppy syndrome.  We like to pull others down.  We may build up, but it becomes a pulling down.  It is like a law of the lowest common denominator.
My self-love can be built on a rock or shifting sand.  My choice.