It’s officially fall: the time of the year where everyone starts to feel the love a little more. It’s time for pumpkin patches, hot tea, cookies, cuddles, and so much more.

It’s time to fall in love, see what I did there?

In society, we are told to look for love, if you’re not dating someone you are #foreveralone or #singleforlife. The world has a way of making us feel like we’re not enough, it preys on our insecurities. If someone isn’t interested in you then who would be? This is all so encouraging, right? No, not so much.

So this fall instead of looking for someone to fall in love with, fall in love with yourself.

Rejection, it is the fertilizer to our ever-growing insecurities. My generation is focused on perfection and when you fall short of it, we bring ourselves down. I have seen so many beautiful souls, girls and guys, but life has a way of dimming our light. I’ve come to find that the joy I have found in my life has shown through my insecurities. Thoughts of self-doubt and discouragement have grown to a whisper and the words “you are more than enough” have grown louder.

Reader, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are sculpted by the Sculptor. Every awkward tendency, loud laugh, scar, grey hair, birthmark; they are you. Take a minute and think of the people you love, what makes you love them? It’s not their perfection, it’s their imperfection. The clumsy moments, the stupid jokes, the awkward dances, the silent kindness; that is what we fall in love with. Every single one of your imperfections makes you, you. So instead of being insecure about them fall in love.

We have so many reasons to fall in love with ourselves, don’t let the world make you feel less than what you are. When I was in high school one of my teachers read the book “You are special” to us and he was trying to illustrate the point that every single one of us is special. It has stuck with me ever since. Think about this, the very artist who painted the world, painted you. Carefully putting every stroke of His brush to the canvas that would one day become you. Wow. You are special.

So the next time someone leaves, or makes you feel like less than what you actually are, or when the whispers of “you’re not enough” grow louder; remember the words above.

Remember you are special, you are perfectly imperfect, you are loved by others, so why not love yourself? Find the joy in yourself, find the joy in those around you, find what makes you, you; and fall in love.