Growing up and in my early adult years, I always struggled with feeling as though I didn't quite belong. I wanted people to like me, I wanted to feel included, I wanted the affirmations that I was enough. Many of us go through that in our lives. We care what people think about us more than we care about ourselves. We care about making others happy instead of making ourselves happy.I don't know exactly when I realized this was no way to live but at some point in the past 5 years, since my dad passed and I went into ministry I realized that I had to love myself a little bit more.By loving myself, I no longer cared and worried about making others happy and ensuring that I "belonged"In recent months, I have become even more aware of this.Two months ago, I quit taking anxiety medication that I had taken since my dad passed and it is as though something inside of me woke upA fire inside of me that was missing for so long and wanted to come out and it certainly has.I not only have to come to the conclusion that in order for me to truly care for others, I must love myself but also that if people do not care for me or to be around me