IT'S A CLICHЕ
BY DEIRDRE FIDGE
I remember the first time I heard the sentiment: you can’t love someone else before loving yourself. Like many firsts in life, it was in high school. A classmate shared the quote with a small group of us, using the earnest tone of a daytime talk-show host pivoting from selling ShamWows to discussing a violent crime with a forensic expert. Wide-eyed, we nodded in agreement. It felt like gospel (although this was a Catholic school, so lots of things felt like gospel).
I agreed with this platitude for years. It sounds inoffensive at first – “Sure,” you might think. “It’s important for everyone to love and accept themselves.” But when you really think about what the message is and the assumptions it makes…
