First…Love Yourself
To love is to live. Live in love with yourself.
Before we even begin… let’s get one thing straight. To love yourself… to honor YOU as you would any other… takes self-respect and patience. Loving yourself requires appreciation for the mind, body, and spirit you embody on this earth. To fall in love with “you” is not equated with promoting ego, conceit, or arrogance. Ok? Ok….
First love yourself, then others will love you. Love your mind, the outstanding accomplishments and failures that help you grow. Love your body, the exquisite beauty and faults that make it so. Love your soul, the enthusiastic happiness and the splendid release of sorrow.
Embrace mind, body and soul within both arms…spread wide enough to envelop the world within your hands… dance when you feel like dancing, cry when you feel like crying. Express the love you feel within yourself to help the self-love of others prevail – and while it may be the most terrifying journey, to accept yourself as you are in its entirety, it will make loving others, in all their differences, in all their shapes and sizes… as natural as breathing.
Yes. Buy yourself flowers. Embrace yourself mentally in a hug… laugh in the moments you need it most from another…. go on a vacation by yourself ….. go out dancing solo…. sit at a café all day long writing and reading without needing another to make you feel comfortable. Self-love is complete acceptance of yourself. To know who you are, where you have come from, and all the places you still have to go… own it all and stand proud.