Lessons from J. Cole’s “Love Yourz”

There’s a line in J. Cole’s Love Yourz that’s been sitting with me for years:

“No such thing as a life that’s better than yours.”

At first listen, it sounds nice—uplifting, maybe even cliché. But if you sit with it long enough, it gets real uncomfortable. Because most of us, at some point, live like we don’t believe it.

We scroll through social media. We compare our bodies, our bank accounts, our relationships. We assume someone else’s life must be better because it looks better. We chase things that might not even be ours to chase. We think when we get there—to the better job, the bigger house, the different relationship—then we’ll be content.

But Cole flips that. He’s not saying settle. He’s saying find peace now. Gratitude now. Love now. Or you’ll spend your whole life chasing something you can’t catch.

So I’ve had to ask myself: Do I believe this?

Do I really believe that my life, with all its imperfections, scars, and unfinished business, is the life I’m supposed to love?

When I was deep in addiction, I didn’t love anything—not myself, not the people around me, not the life I was living. But on the other side of that darkness, I’ve learned something: loving your life doesn’t mean everything’s perfect. It means you stop waiting for perfection to feel peace.

What can we take from this?

We can stop chasing someone else’s highlight reel.

We can stop waiting for “the next thing” to bring us joy.

We can stop treating love, peace, and purpose like they’re somewhere far away.

Start where your feet are. Look around. Be grateful for what you’ve overcome and who you’re becoming. Learn to love your story—not just the shiny parts, but the gritty, painful, real ones too.

How does this apply to me?

Every day, I try to live in a way where I don’t need to look anywhere else for validation. I remind myself:

• There’s beauty in the process.

• There’s growth in the struggle.

• There’s peace in accepting that your life is yours for a reason.

Loving your life doesn’t mean you stop trying to grow—it means you love yourself while you grow.

So today, I’ll ask you what I asked myself:

Do you believe that there’s no such thing as a life that’s better than yours?

If not yet, maybe it’s time to start living like it.