With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I felt it was appropriate to write about the one thing that so many people run hot and cold with... love.
While being in love is great and loving someone is wonderful, there is one type of love that gets overlooked, self-love.
As a female on a college campus, I spend a lot of time being involved in women-led and focused organizations, and for the last two weeks, all I have heard about is how if someone does not have a significant other in their life, then Valentine's Day is just another day.
This concept caught my attention because I believe it to be so far from the truth. When did we start to view love as simply a relationship with others?
What happened to your most important relationship? The one between you and yourself.
Somewhere in between being a freshman in high school and being a senior in college our focus shifts. While we are always about lifting up other women and acting like we are confident, our main love interests move from ourselves to our possible marriage suitors.
At this point, you are probably thinking, "okay, so what"?
As I walk around campus every day I constantly see these young women putting their "possible suitors" before themselves. And after a while of putting these men before themselves, the man leaves and these strong women are broken hearted.
So what's missing in the equation? It seems like a relationship that should work out right? The reason these relationships fail is because there is a lack of self-love.
If you cannot love yourself first you are setting the bar too low for the significant others that are going to come in and out of your life.
As women, we are told from a very young age that if we do not have respect for ourselves then no one will ever respect us, why is this so different when it comes to love? How can we ever expect a man to love us to their fullest if we cannot love ourselves to the fullest first?
I want you to take a step back and reevaluate the love you have for yourself.
I know we can all act like we are pretty and have our lives together on the outside, but if you really had to talk about the parts of yourself you love what would you say? And beyond that, how much of the information would be more than surface level?
I'm going to let you in on a little secret now, we are all beautiful, strong and smart women. The only person that prevents ourselves and others from seeing that is us. In order for others to see you worthy of all their love, we have to believe we are worthy.
I challenge you to make this Valentine's Day all about you. Spend some time doing a face mask, sweating it out in hot yoga or binge-watching Nicholas Sparks movies and when the day is over be prepared to change your mindset.
No one can love you fully until you love yourself first!
