Trust

To me accepting yourself as you are isn't really the main factor. Or even a factor at all. You don't have to accept yourself as you are now, you just need to know yourself and believe in yourself well enough to know who you could be. What's your highest potential? Are you doing everything in your power to achieve it? Self love is loving yourself enough to become the best person you can be. Becoming a person you can love.

But, also, not beating yourself up over the person you are now. Trusting yourself enough to know you'll get there and you're making progress. Self love lies in trusting yourself, believing in yourself, truly being able to see yourself. The good and the bad. Acknowledging the good and building on it, acknowledging the bad and being determined to work on it because accepting the bad that you can change isn't self love. That's self destructive behavior disguised as self love.