Why is it so easy to love others and not yourself?

I'm have always been told, "In order to be loved and accepted by others, you must first love and accept yourself." This is easier said than done and I must ask why is it so difficult to just accept and love yourself as you are?

I guess we are just always extremely critical when it comes to judging ourselves. I think it is similar to how a butterfly doesn't see the color of its own wings and beauty when we do and we find it really beautiful and fascinating? That's pretty much the same thing only we have the ability to see in ourselves if we choose to do so. When we are in this negative mode, we tend to mentally discourage ourselves off by putting ourselves down. Then we dwell on how we could have done things better and end up giving ourselves a much harder time than we do other people would have given. While other people tend to get the benefit of the doubt and we often find it easy to make excuses for their behavior, we know that we are responsible for our own behavior and tend to worry needlessly that we might have done things in a different way.

I think it is really important to love and accept yourself. That being said, we live in a world where humility is taught to be a virtue and anyone who raises themselves up is immediately torn down by people who think they are big-headed and annoying. We set up a double standard for people. People who accept themselves as they are and are comfortable with their attitudes will be more energetic, able to accomplish more, be able to handle whatever life throws at me with minimum stress and tension and lead a happier life. If everything seems dark, gray, full of negative thoughts and gloomy thinking, you won't be able to notice the bountiful beauty, positive energy, etc. If you have set yourself to be sad and full of worries then this attitude will drag you down and you will not be able to give optimal performance. An attitude change will go a long way in changing a person’s outlook in life.