Valentine's Day passed with a lot of emphasis on love. Heart shapes everywhere with roses and teddy bears, but now we are back on normal track. It's just that endless lines of survivals - small things from beating the lunch line to getting an A on that psychology midterm, to that club board position, and to one of your biggest goals--your dream job. It is so easy to focus on your failures rather than your great work in the middle of busy and stressful days with endless competitions to win and goals to achieve. It is also very easy to compare yourself with others. Why didn't I get that board position? Why am I so disorganized? Why am I like this? However, the most important mind set that is necessary for positivity is loving yourself, because it can profoundly impact not only yourself, but also those around you too.

Loving yourself is self-discovery because you can acknowledge both your strong points and weakness by embracing every bit of yourself. Everyday is a busy day filled with competitions and deadlines. After a long and stressful day, you deserve a pat on the back and admit to yourself that you've done such a great job today. No matter how small the thing you are good at is, it does not make your greatness small. Moreover, by realizing your weaknesses - and no one is perfect - you can embrace parts of yourself that you wanted to avoid recognizing. Because you know your flaws, it will be easy to move away from them. Also, you can fully embrace your true self – both good and bad parts – and recognize no matter of flaws, you still are an amazing person.

Loving yourself is respect for your self for allowing yourself to see real you, and is respect for those around you too, because only if you truly embrace yourself, you can start loving other people. Because you see your shortcomings and realize having weakness is not a bad thing but just normal thing for a human being, you can eventually embrace shortcomings of those around you and learn to love their shortcomings too. Also, confidence about yourself that self-love nourishes can deeply influence your relationships with others. Because you know yourself well and love yourself, you would feel more comfortable voicing your own opinion and be more confident in front of other people. Self-love is not just about you, but others around you too.

So try this. Jot down few great things about yourself. Maybe you're great at keeping journals, having a good sense of music, or focusing on your work to achieve something you desire. And also your shortcomings, such as not calling your parents enough, being lazy, or being too worried about something that will never happen (this is me, by the way). So now you're more knowledgeable about yourself, try to stick to your strong points and fix your weak points. Nothing has to change radically from not working out at all to going to gym every morning. However, it can be such a small thing, like saying hi to people in your hall or planning ahead with an agenda. But more importantly, always be confident and believe in yourself. Remember, you are such a wonderful person.