The day of love is a little bittersweet. For some, their day is filled with roses, surprises and date night plans. For others, the day can be a reminder of something they wish they had. Oddly enough, I almost always had a significant other on Valentine’s Day, yet I was never into the overly-hyped holiday. I’m all for love and romance, but not in a forced and showy type of way. More importantly, I never understood how the universally recognized day of love turned into recognizing only one type of love in our lives.
While you may see a million posts today about love for one’s significant other, I wanted to provide something different: a post that would remind you to feel all the feels about the most important relationship in your life… the one with yourself.
I know now more than ever this LG community is focused on self love. I wanted to help point out the amazing things you are already doing to love yourself and some simple things you can do more of.
Self-Love (noun): regard for one’s own happiness
Self love seems like a simple concept, but as with most things, we, as women, tend to over complicate it (lol!). We think we need some big plan to grow in self love. We think we have to stick to this plan and never screw up. We think it will take all sorts of time and effort.
In reality, loving ourselves more is pretty simple.
My definition of self love his prioritizing what makes me feel good on the inside. I use the word prioritize because we could all make a list of things that make us feel good, but not often enough do we actually make time for them.
My mom, Debbie has always been the ultimate example of pure love. The love she’s shown me my entire life is more than I can put into words. Anyone who knows her would say the same. She doesn’t miss an opportunity to give the most thoughtful gift. She extends love and help exactly when you need it most. And, she knows just what to say to lift your spirit. On top of that, she’s a nurse and I can only imagine the love she shows those she’s in contact with on a daily basis.
It’s no surprise that she is where I learned a lot of my simple, self-love habits. Despite her busy schedule, she gets her mani/pedi every 2 weeks, she loves driving with the windows down, listening to her country music (she still plays Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” on repeat) and just like me, she takes 401 pictures of the sunset… every… night. It’s simple acts of self love. She makes time for what makes her feel good. It gives her so much love she has leftovers to share.
You see… we need to think of ourselves like teapots and those around us like teacups. A full pot of tea can serve many and bring about warm, loving feelings. Have you ever enjoyed a cup of tea with two sips in it?! Likely not. A teacup with just a little bit in it has little use.
If we aren’t full as individuals, we have nothing to give. And if we’re giving what little we have left, we’re running on E and of no benefit to ourselves or those around us.
Before we think about loving others, we need to love ourselves. You are the most important relationship in your life.
Now, let’s keep it simple. Let’s strive for 1-2 easy acts of self love every day.
I made a list of 20 simple ways to love yourself… feel free to steal some of my ideas and add to them.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! Be sure you show your beautiful self all the love you deserve!
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