What does it mean to love yourself?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been given the advice “you need to love yourself first!” Like it is the solution to all problems.

To a degree it makes sense to me I guess. If you absolutely hate yourself, you’re going to bring a lot of problems onto yourself intentionally or not. Ok, point taken.

But what does it mean to you to love yourself? I imagine I would know if I loved myself, right? Since I question it then I must not love myself. I truly believe I am a decent person overall. I don’t hurt people. I care. I’m generous. I’m thoughtful. I have many flaws, of course.

Even with those positive-ish things I can say about myself, I can’t think of why I should love myself. Your perspective may be enlightening for me. What does it mean to love yourself? Did you struggle to get there? What helped you change?