Here’s the inimitable Frederick Buechner, one of my favorite writers, on loving our ourselves…
“It means simply that the ability to work for your own good despite all the less than admirable things you know about yourself is closely related to the ability to work for your neighbors’ good despite all the less than admirable things you know about them….
…Self-love, or pride, is a sin when, instead of leading you to share with others the self you love, it leads you to keep your self in perpetual safe-deposit. You not only don’t accrue any interest that way, but you become less and less interesting every day.”