As I've grown up over the past few years, both physically and mentally, I've noticed a very distinct trend that occurs in the everyday world around me. Being a young adult in this generation, it seems that many of my peers concern themselves with the ideas of "finding the one," or simply just having some sort of significant other in their life. This is extremely prevalent as a college student, but this has also been something I've noticed even since the middle school years.

Personally, I have never been concerned with this so-called "issue". I never quite understood what everyone's rush was to get into serious relationships. Everywhere I turned, friends and peers were falling in and out of love, wondering why they haven't been able to find that one person. Were they not attractive enough? Not smart enough? What was it about themselves that made it so hard for them to find and keep a significant other? And then it hit me: the reason so many people have trouble finding someone who can love them is because they have yet to learn to love themselves.

Valuing yourself is more important than it may seem. Instead of learning to love themselves, many people look to find others who will do just that for them. But how silly does that sound? It is extremely difficult to find someone to love every part of you if you have trouble doing that for yourself. I'm not saying that it's not okay to have insecurities -- that's only a part of being human. But it will be impossible for anyone else to see how valuable you truly are until you learn to value yourself.

Once you understand your own true value, life will become much more enjoyable. Are you good at chemistry? Good! Own that. Not so good at chemistry? Understand that that's okay, you're not "flawed", and just work a little harder to improving yourself to be the best "you" that you can be. Now apply this mindset to every other aspect in your life, and you will realize that you have your strengths and you have your weaknesses, but as long as you realize just how much you are worth, all of your strengths will shine through. And once you reach this point, every single person around you will see how much you love yourself and they can really see how much of you there is to love.

Look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Wow, I sure am valuable." Don't look for someone -- friends, family, significant others -- to tell you how much you are worth. Know your worth. And own it. Show it. Flaunt it. Because only you have the value that you do. Valuing yourself first is important, because you are important.