Why Jennifer Lopez Is Choosing to Be Single for Awhile

— -- It's been a long time since Jennifer Lopez has been single.

Shortly after splitting from her husband of nearly eight years, the singer began dating her former back-up singer Casper Smart, though they broke up earlier this year.

"It was work for me to finally go, you know, okay, I need to be on my own. That's not a place that's comfortable for me, but that's something that I need to do so that I know I'm okay on my own, that I can handle this, that I got this," she told the tHuffington Post. "I don't need anybody else. I want somebody else, that would be nice, but I gotta be happy and whole on my own first. I gotta heal from things. You gotta give yourself time and space."

Lopez, 45, said that that's the core of her new book, "True Love" -- the importance of learning to love one's self, first and foremost. For her, that's been a challenge.

"You can have confidence in the things that you do but not so much in who you are as a girl, as a person, as a woman," she said. "I think that's what was lacking inside me."

"The book is about realizing that one of the biggest keys to life is having love for yourself, love inside of you, knowing that the love inside of you is enough, that you are enough, having that self-worth," she said. "And then, once you're okay there, then you can share that. Somebody can add to your happiness that you already have."