So honest! I’m not a mother yet, but I can very much relate to a lot of what you write about finding your self-love restored through the experience of meeting kind men. Human beings are mirrors for each other. Some of those mirrors reflect something distortedly negative back at us, but others allow us to see more easily the brilliance of what we truly are. Meeting people like that is truly a gift in life. While dating in the hopes of boosting one’s confidence can definitely go in an unhealthy, codependent direction, it doesn’t have to. It’s always refreshing to read stories about women whose relationships with men — however casual or fleeting—have helped to heal them. Thank you so much for sharing!