As RuPaul's famous saying goes: "If you don't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?"
That seems to be the motto Love Is Blind star Jessica Batten is living by these days. The reality TV personality, who appeared in the first season of the hit Netflix show, returned for an epic comeback on the new reunion series, Love Is Blind: After the Altar.
Although Jessica didn't get closure with her ex-fiancé Mark Cuevas or make amends with couple Amber Pike and Matt Barnett, she ended up discovering something more significant about herself.
Taking to Instagram on Saturday, July 30, the Netflix star shared a candid post about her experience on the reunion special and explained why she decided to take part in it.
"I wanted to show up and share my story for every person who reached out to me with love," she wrote, "and shared their own testimonies about having the courage to walk away from situations that were not serving them, that did not feel right for them."
She continued, "I wanted them to see they would be ok in the end and they would make it through the hard times standing on their own too."
"To be absolutely honest, I wanted to share my side of the story with Mark as well as I thought I owed that to myself," Jessica confessed. "I sat on that for a long time - but that's aside from my point here."
Additionally, Jessica took a moment to open up about the "hard lesson" she learned from Love Is Blind.
"I learned that it's important not to seek a relationship or another person to make yourself feel whole or happy (this is also regardless of age and wanting a family - and that is a super important point!)," she shared. "Being in a relationship and being married is beautiful, I believe we were created for love but we also have one life to live and we should let our hearts guide us to the right destination and to our people in the right time."
Simply put, "Don't force it. Also being alone and independent is incredibly empowering and I appreciated this time in my life a lot and wouldn't be where I'm at without it."
Jessica admitted that "it was a tough decision" to return to television. But in the end, she wouldn't have done it any other way. Since Love Is Blind: After the Altar premiered on July 28, she revealed she has received an outpouring of love on social media.
As she described, "For those sending these beautiful messages, I'm reading and most times crying getting through them. Thank you for being so kind and for the heartfelt apologies. I understand the initial judgment more than you know."
"I just want to encourage you to never lose sight of this North Star, your own heart," she encouraged. "Even if it's painful and messy and really freaking hard, keep going, trust yourself and know you'll find your way. Not everyone is going to like it or like you through it.. but that's OK!"
She added, "You'll find your way and they will all be better for it too, I promise!"