Self Love is Narcissistic: A Poem

Written by: Nandiinii Gupta

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​It’s the third day of loving myself.
The world is teetering on the edge of a pandemic, 
And I stand just two steps back,
Praying to a god I don’t believe in,
For the extra time in my life;
Like a pause button, that brings
Everything but the rotation of the earth
To a standstill;
I am thankful for this time.
It’s a blessing in disguise, a lot of us have managed to recognise,
Learn new skills, focus on control of our lives,
It’s a second chance for those of us who are still graciously alive. 
New skills are not easily learnt,
Neither are they perfected in a single try,
And I’ve discovered that learning to love yourself,
Is the kind of art that takes you to a new high.
It’s the third day of loving myself,
Three days before, I was still learning,
And I woke up at 3 a.m. on the first Tuesday of my new life,
Lips dry, throat parched, eyes burning,
Decided to look in the mirror, stomach churning,
Fell in love with the mess that I was,
Felt an unfamiliar yearning. 
It was then that I decided, 
That I better practice what I’ve been preaching to myself,
All my chants of “I love you” to me,
Had finally taken effect.
The cosmos took it’s finger off 
The pause button on my life,
Henceforth lay a journey, full of errors and trials,
Seductive challenges, and love in the backdrop of strife. 
Self-love is a terribly hard lesson 
But it’s the only one that matters too,
And yet this is the only chapter 
That society forgets to teach you. 
For it’s easy for the world to shame anything,
It doesn’t believe to ring true; 
And yet it shames those too, 
Who burn in the light of truth.
Irony and society thrive in the abundance of narcissism,
Glory and selfishness, dance hand in hand,

And self-love becomes a buried idea.
And yet,
Life coloured with love for self 
Is the greatest act of rebellion you can do.
Narcissists fill the world in excess
No limit to attraction and attention for themselves,
The limitless urge to degrade others
Just to taste that superiority of self.
Self-love in a world of narcissists
Rings too harsh to be taken as right,
For learning to love without hurting others,
Has always been an uphill fight. 
Growth must never be coupled with destruction
Because paradoxes look beautiful only in poetry,
And the real world is far more hellish than what you think.
Learn that, to love means to give,
Than take,
Give more than you expect,
In fact, don’t expect it back at all,
Because kindness doesn’t need a cost and love doesn’t have a price.
Self-love in a narcissistic world 
Is a task if you want it to be
But think of it as an earth-shaking revolution,
That with every ounce of love you dedicate to yourself,
You’re spreading cracks in a mould that needs to break
So, stand tall, stand straight
And love and love and love yourself
That’s how you can feel the roots of narcissism shake,
And crush under your power;
Be fearless, there is nothing at stake.
Make this promise, promise to keep 
Revolution and love will bring the world to your feet.