Let me start with, this article probably won’t be what you’re expecting. I’m not creating a mock up Craigslist type ad of someone looking for a life partner, or a needy girl seeking attention in all the wrong places. I am a girl who is seeking self love, simplistic joy in the little things around me, and the appreciation of all that life offers. I’m seeking passionate enjoyment of the days I am blessed enough to wake up and live out. I want to feel love all around me as I lay at the beach reading my favorite book, or sit in my room writing out my latest Odyssey article. I want to love everyone I meet and to appreciate the people who have stuck around in my life. This is the love I am seeking.

I want to breathe in joy and exhale love as I go throughout my days, not stare at my phone craving the love of others to fill my heart. I seek to be self sufficient, self confident, aware of the value I carry in myself. Too much of our joy resides in how others view us or feel about us, but I’m casting that out. Maybe this seems like a call of desperation, or a sign that I’m struggling, but I view it as a sign of strength. Others' love is imperfect, and though our self love may be flawed as we mercilessly judge ourselves, I seek to focus on building the love I have for myself and becoming everything I need to be: a rock, an encourager, and an inspirer.

Too many of us are taught by example that the love of others is all powerful. The One may push us to become better versions of ourselves, but why aren’t we constantly striving to do that for our own sake? Yes, you are beautifully flawed, and not everyone will view it as such, but be confident enough to believe in yourself. Seek love from yourself and others are sure to follow. Be brave in all that you do, show love in every word you speak, and constantly be striving for the love that each one of us so desperately needs: the love of ourselves.

This is the love I am seeking; this is a love I will not settle on, but will be working to improve constantly. This is the love I want to burn within me with a fiery passion, and one that will spread to others like wildfire.