Love. A word we say many times a day to describe how we feel about food, objects, and other people. But when do we ever use this word to describe how we feel about ourselves? When is the last time you looked in the mirror and thought, "Wow, I really love my eyes, my hair, my outgoing personality, or my great listening skills?" So often in our society loving something about yourself is defined as selfish or vain. However, loving yourself is the first step to truly loving the other things the world has to offer.
Loving yourself does not come easy. Throughout history there has always been a stereotypical definition of beauty. In our society today outer beauty is defined as tall, skinny women who still have some curves or tall, strong, athletic men. Society also defines inner beauty. Men are not supposed to be emotional, they have to be strong. Women on the other hand are expected to be proper and motherly. But what if you do not live up to these societal expectations? Society tells you you're not good enough; this makes it very hard for both men and women to love themselves.
So often we look at celebrities or our peers and think, "Wow, if I could only be more like them."
Well, I have news for you, you're not them. You are you. And you are beautiful in your own way. It is so important to recognize this and love the parts of you that make you unique. It does not matter if you are short, tall, skinny, fat, outgoing, shy, athletic, artistic, intelligent, etc. Every characteristic about you deserves to be loved. And no, I do not mean love from another person, I mean love from yourself. How can you expect to ever love another person and their flaws fully if you do not love your own imperfections? Nobody is perfect and in order to accept other's imperfections the first step is to learn to love your own. After all, you know every detail about yourself, every deep dark secret. So learning to love everything about yourself will make it that much easier to love others.
So I encourage anyone who is reading this, focus on loving yourself today. It is not selfish, it is necessary. Love was not meant as something that should come easy. After all, the greatest representation we have of love is Jesus giving his life for us on the cross. Loving another person comes with sacrifice and vulnerability. So love yourself first and this will come as well. Love is a beautiful thing and you deserve it. Not only from other people, but from yourself as well. Jesus says to "love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31)." This is not only calling you to love your neighbor, but yourself as well. You cannot love one without the other.
"Open your eyes. You are not made up of those words that hurt you. Or that number on the scale. Or the expectations that you feel you will never meet. You are made up of nothing more than you. Simply, beautifully, wonderfully, uniquely you. You are a lovely and complex soul. An individually, fascinating combination of complex thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions. No other is as beautiful as you. Look past the mirror. Look at your soul. Only then will you see yourself as you truly are. Beautiful. So smile and don't forget to love yourself." - Unknown
