Do you love yourself? I mean, do you actually, unapologetically love yourself? When most people think about this the default answer is yes. But simply getting through the day while adequately feeding yourself and soaking in your tub with a lush bath bomb fizzing around is not what I mean by self-love.
It is an admiration of yourself. It is recognizing and celebrating every tiny victory that you achieve as you would that of a four-year-old. Self-love is reminding yourself that you don't need someone to come into your life and show you the love that you deserve. You have to show yourself the love that you deserve.
Often times we forget to take a moment to ourselves and truly appreciate who we are. Over the course of this week, I asked some girlfriends of mine what trait they loved most about themselves. I didn't care if they took a while to answer because I knew they would find something—especially since I could have named ten things about each of them that was worth loving.
"I have an inward self confidence and inward strength to know that I will get through everything that come my way."
-Anonymous
"My grace towards others and my quickness to forgive."
-Mollie S.
"My sarcastic humor."
-Sophie G.
"My curiosity."
-Natalie S.
"I have a passion and drive to educate and inspire our future world changers."
-Meagan M.
"I'm usually willing to do new and exciting things for the sake of growth."
-Bekah S.
"My boldness- the most. I think my ability to have the boldness to say what I think is a great quality to have."
-Kaitlin S.
"My Dad has told me my whole life that I am tenderhearted, kind, and that I have a keen sense of the needs/feelings of others."
-Elizabeth W.
"I love that I care about others."
-Eleni T.
"I think I love my pessimism because it keeps me in check with reality and makes my optimism even more realistic because I know what I can achieve and what work it requires to reach all of my end goals no matter how big or small."
-Eleni G.
"I love that I can make people laugh."
-Iliana T.
"I grew up loving myself through all of the trials of my life."
-Elle M.
"I always try to make the best out of things and stay positive."
-Madyson M.
"I love my love for all things creative: music, photos—there's literally beauty in everything and I love experiencing it."
-Rebecca W.
"I like how stubborn I am because once I set my mind to something it's really hard to change it, so I'm not easily phased by criticism or anything like that."
-Nina S.
And ladies—we can't forget to love ourselves. It doesn't matter what color your skin is. It doesn't matter what your GPA averaged out to be. It does not matter who you choose to love. What matters is that you choose to love yourself. Every single day. My challenge for you, reader, is this—find one thing you love about yourself each day for the remaining month of June and speak it out loud before you leave your house. Don't be afraid to appreciate the things that make you, you.
