To the girl learning to love herself,

We are told all the time that we need to be in love with someone else. That we have to have someone by our side. But guess what? You don’t! I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying of “You have to love yourself before you can love someone else.” Honestly that saying couldn’t be truer. It took me a long time to realize this. To realize that I needed to be the best version of myself before I could be truly happy. It’s a relief to say that I have reached that point and I promise you, you will reach that point. Of course, there are days where I am not happy with where I am or the situation. But at the end of the day I remember that every day I get to work on myself.

There are simple things you can do to learn to love yourself. Do them all, try them all, and just see what happens.

Travel:

Go someplace by yourself. Pack up your car, grab your dog, and crack a red bull. Going someplace by yourself is one of the most eye-opening experiences you can do. You’ll learn a lot about yourself! It doesn’t have to be some place far away or for a really long time. The first time I went some place by myself I went to the mountains not far from Las Vegas. It was the time I needed to reflect and figure out what I wanted. I will never forget sitting on a little cut out in this mountain just thinking by myself. Realizing that I needed to put my faith in myself.

Do something that scares you:

Now I’m not saying if you’re scared of heights go and jump out of a plane. But do something! Something that you never thought you could do. I didn’t do anything crazy. Want to know what I did? I went to dinner and then a movie by myself! You might not think that is some scary thing but I have always been the girl that wouldn’t go to movies alone and would skip meals if I were going alone. Trust me I know that’s silly. Looking back on it now I know it’s a little crazy. If I want to see a movie I’m going! If there is a restaurant I want to try and no one wants to go. Well you can bet I’ll go.

Take up a hobby:

It can seriously be ANYTHING! Just learn something new. Learn a new language. If you like to write, then write more. If reading is your thing find a whole new list of books and dive in. Maybe take up volunteering. You can seriously Google places where you can volunteer in your town. Just find something new to do.

Have “me” time:

This is something that I still do today. I find a day out of every week to have some time to myself. Some weeks it might be a whole day and other times it might only be a half hour. But it's time where I get to focus and take care of myself. There are weeks where I will crash out in bed and watch Netflix all day. There are other times where I might throw on a face mask and hop in a bubble bath. It’s just some time where I can relax and center myself.

Journal:

This was what started my trip to re-loving myself. Every night I would sit down and journal. Even if I didn’t have an eventful day I would find a quote or some lyrics that meant something to me. I would write them down and then journal why they meant something to me. I write everything down and it’s awesome to be able to look back on where I was in my life and how far I have come.

These might seem like some simple ideas but put them all together, come up with your own, Google some. Whatever you do find yourself and make yourself happy.

Love,

The girl who was once lost