I feel like i am always taking care of others and trying to make others happy, trying make sure i dont hurt anyone's feelings but i end up hurting myself..
I don't know if you consider yourself a "spiritual" person, dear Free (again, peace to you!)... but I found something that Christ is recorded to have said to be very... ummmmmm... eye-opening. He said:
"You must love your neighbor as yourself."
Thing is... can you truly love your neighbor as yourself... if you don't love yourself? Doesn't love have to start with you? I mean, how can you GIVE... what you don't HAVE? Not everyone we want to love/like us will, dear one. That's okay, though... because it isn't "about" them. It's about you... and so YOU must love you... in spite of whether anyone else does... and before you can ask/expect almost anyone else to do so. I say almost because it should be a given with some (parents, spouse, children); unfortunately, it isn't always. But that's okay, too. Again, it isn't about them. It's about you... and who YOU love... and how... FIRST.
Such love is not egotistical pride, though. It is love that says "I'm no better... and no worse... than anyone else... and just like everyone else, I, too, am worthy of love... especially from myself."
I hope this helps and, again, that you find peace!
A slave of Christ,
SA
