Love yourself

A speech by : Jamaica Kim Asuncion

Love yourself, a phrase you always say to people to encourage them yet our hypocrite
selves can’t manage to do it.
I know some of us struggle with finding comfort and satisfaction with one’s self and I, too,
have been on that road. One of the reasons we struggle with this is because we focus too
much on what people are saying about us. We care so much of what people think about us
that as time goes by it overtakes our mind.
I had the same problem. It was probably 4 years ago. I was 9 maybe 10 years old at that
time. I grew up by being teased a lot. At that age I started thinking about what my friends
and other people think of me. I always get yelled at for being big and I always get compared
to skinny girls. At that time I didn’t know that to do.
To my family and friends I’m always a closed book. I can never tell them my small and big
problems because I have the fear of being criticized about my problem so I always kept my
mouth shut. I remember crying in our bathroom everytime I get compared especially when
my own family does it.
My long term friends didn’t know me that well because I never said anything. If they laugh, I
laugh. If they have problems I’ve always helped them yet no one did the same too me.
A year later one of my classmate recommended a band that I should listen to. So I did and it
was … I don’t know if you would call it life changing but for it was. It was a group of 7 boys
from a country called Korea. The group was called BTS. I started to get hooked because the
songs where good. As time goes by I started to read the English lyrics or what each song
means.
One song that I will always treasure is called 2! 3! Hoping for more good days. It was a song
for their fans , a song for armys. My favorite line from that song is “ it’s alright , now count
1,2,3 and forget erase all sad memories . hold my hand and smile “ that song helped me
through a lot of problems that I couldn’t say to friends or to my family.
As time flies by they released an album called Love yourself. It was an album that inspired a
lot of people to be themselves. It was one of their most famous albums in their discography.
One song that I will never forget is called Answer : Love myself .
“ Yes , I have that beauty. knowing that is going on the path to loving myself. it’s what I need
the most. I’m walking myself it’s an action needed for me. my attitude towards myself that’s
happiness I need for me. I’ll show you what I got. I’m not afraid because it’s me , love
myself.” That was a verse from the song answer : love myself. That song is very special
because that song helped young teens and adults to live not to stand by society’s rules but
to live in your own little way.
This is a piece from Kim Namjoon’s speech at the Unicef general assembly “What is your
name? what excites you and makes your heart beat ? tell me your story. I want to hear your
voice and I want to hear your convitions.no matter who you are , where you are from , your
skin color, your gender identity , just speak yourself. Find your name and find your voice by
speaking yourself. “ that speech was for a campaign called Love myself . it is a campaign to
help young people to learn to love themselves .
This campaign has helped a lot of people including me. This group of boys had save lives and
inspired others to speak themselves through their story.
I would like to end my speech with a piece from Kim Namjoon’s speech from the Unicef
general assembly “ I have made so many , plenty mistakes in my life. I have my faults and I
have may more fears but I’m going to embrace myself as hard as I can. And I’m starting to
love myself gradually just little by little . what is your name? speak yourself.” Thank you