There is no celebration of love quite like Valentines Day. It is the one day of the year where our love for one another is proclaimed, embraced and cherished. However, despite the vitality of our loved ones knowing just how much they mean to us, it is even more crucial for us to first accept and love ourselves.
In a society that thrives off telling you to hate this part of you, and change that part, it has become even more incredibly difficult to love yourself. The worst part however doesn’t stem from self-loathing, but from the negative push back of others. Often people deem self-love as conceited or narcissistic, however for those who are consumed by an extremely critical society, it is easy to misunderstand the true meaning of ‘Self Love’.
When you come to love yourself, you stop settling in all aspects of the word. You don’t settle for mediocre love, you don’t settle for vacant friends, you don’t settle for being under appreciated. You simply don’t settle. You know your true worth and you refuse to give yourself any less than you deserve.
Similarly, your time becomes so much more valuable to you once you decide to love yourself. You stop going to events you don’t want to be at just to make someone happy because you want to use this time wisely. You could be spending that time doing something productive or being with people that make your time worthwhile. Time is precious, it’s one of the only factors in your life that cannot be changed, and when you appreciate yourself, you stop spending it doing things that don’t hold value to you or make you better.
Being able to love yourself makes you so much better at loving other people. You become better at loving your partner, your friends, your family and even strangers. You cease putting other people down and instead try to lift them up, you try to get them to appreciate themselves as much as you do. By loving yourself, you eliminate the need for people to reassure you that you are smart, or beautiful, or funny because you know that you are. All that time that used to be spent trying to make yourself feel better can now be spent on the people around you.
Your self-worth is how you look at yourself. When I wake up every day I want to be someone who loves myself. It has taken me time to finally wake up and realize that the most important relationship is the one with myself. I have learnt to embrace self-love. I have stopped apologizing for who I am and have learned that I am the perfect me I can be right at this moment. I will constantly be growing as a person with both the good and bad. I know I have bad habits, flaws and imperfections, but those are all a part of what makes me, me.
Your heart is a precious gift. Respect it and be respected. Love yourself and be loved. Know your value and don’t accept being treated in a way less than you deserve. You are unstoppable after you realize you deserve better. So as you tell the most important people in your life just how much you love them, make sure you don’t forget to tell yourself!
Happy Valentines Day
Cristina xx