In the modern world, the pursuit of self-development and inner harmony becomes the key to true success.

Embracing Healthy Self-Love: Balancing Self-Care and Compassion

In the modern world, the pursuit of self-development and inner harmony becomes the key to true success. When a person knows how to love themselves properly, they pay attention to their own needs while also recognizing the importance of caring for loved ones, which lays a solid foundation for the development of empathy and healthy relationships. This approach promotes personal growth, helps maintain a balance between self-respect and consideration for others, and turns self-care into a source of energy for achieving high goals. In contrast, an excessive focus on one’s own needs—what can be called selfishness—often leads to isolation and a decline in the quality of interpersonal connections. Consciously striving to find the golden mean between personal interests and genuine attention to others is the key to emotional well-being and harmony in both personal life and society.

How does healthy self-love differ from selfishness from a psychological perspective?

From a psychological standpoint, healthy self-love and selfishness represent two diametrically opposed attitudes toward the self. Healthy self-love is the pursuit of self-development, harmony, and the balancing of one’s own needs with the interests of others. A person who loves themselves in the right way does not disregard the feelings of those around them, but rather maintains the capacity for empathy and growth, viewing self-care as the foundation for healthy relationships with others. In this approach, self-esteem plays a constructive role, fostering personal growth and the development of a positive worldview.

In contrast, selfishness is defined as an exaggerated focus on one’s own needs and feelings at the expense of others. When a person places their “self” above all else, they often ignore or neglect the needs of those around them, perceiving any expression of someone else's activity as a violation of their rights. Thus, selfishness leads to isolation, where self-affirmation is achieved by denying the significance of other people.

Supporting citation(s):
"The difference between healthy self-love and selfishness is that self-love is the pursuit of self-development and harmony, involving the balancing of one's own needs with the interests of others. Selfishness, on the other hand, is characterized by an exaggerated focus on oneself, ignoring or neglecting the needs and feelings of others." (source: link txt)

"Any focus on one’s self, driven by greater love for oneself than for others, can be called self-love (selfishness). Any intrusion of another's life into one's own is seen by a self-loving person as a violation of their rights—a deliberately inflicted insult." (source: link txt)