By Mansi Tiwari

For a very long time, I held myself back from experiencing self love, because I thought it will make me arrogant. But self love and arrogance are as similar as a unicorn and a horse. They may look similar, but they could not be more different. And like a unicorn, self love is magical. But unlike a unicorn, self love exists, and is very achievable.

So what really is the difference between the two? I won’t bore you with theory, but here are some examples that should help you figure out the subtle yet important difference between the two.

Self love: I am awesome! Arrogance: Only I am awesome.

Self love: I am not perfect, and I am ok with that. Arrogance: I am perfect, and only I am perfect.

Self love: I am allowed to go my way, and you are allowed to go yours, even if they are different. Arrogance: my way or high way!

Self love: we are not the same, and yet we are both important and worthy in our own way. Arrogance: I am more important than you, because xyz.

Self love: Your win is your win, let’s celebrate!! Arrogance: Your win is my loss, I will get angry.

This is not an exhaustive list, but I hope you get the gist.

Self love is fueled by individualism, celebrating uniqueness, diversity.

Arrogance on the other hand is fueled by constantly wanting to be the right one, even if it is at the expense of others emotions, and believing there can only be one right. Everything else is wrong.

So when you look deeper, self love and arrogance could not be any more different.