Happiness comes from within

You'll hear the word fulfillment a lot in life, but what does it mean? I'm still figuring it out, but I know for sure that if you seek it solely in someone else you will never find it. The words 'happiness' and 'satisfied' are commonly used to describe feelings in relationships, but they are also two important things you must find inside yourself.

We've all heard the phrase "you can't really love someone until you learn to love yourself" or at least most of us have. I've always believed that but never took the time to actually understand what it means. What does it mean to love yourself? Well, first you have to know yourself.

We all know ourselves, right? Wrong. I used to be overly sensitive to people's opinions about me. When people see things about us that we don't see ourselves, it makes us uncomfortable. When you really know yourself, you accept your flaws and learn to love them. None of us are perfect.

Second, you do things that make you happy. You start to make goals and accomplish tasks on your own accord. This is where that word 'fulfillment' comes into play. You accomplish things in your life that you can identify with - things that make you proud.

Last but not least, you learn to be self-sufficient. No one is ever going to love you the way you love yourself. As much as we want to be good and do good, we are selfish at times. Yes, you should be able to rely on your partner for a lot of things - but you also need to learn to take care of yourself. You can't expect someone to do that for you.

Ultimately our happiness must come from within.