With our crazy, fast paced lives it feels as if Valentine’s Day was forever ago, but the other day I realized there was one very significant and special person I forgot to celebrate on Valentine’s Day. And since love should be celebrated everyday I’m going to take a moment to celebrate my love and gratitude for this person.
I try to lead my life from a place of love and gratitude everyday, but it’s fun to “buy into” the commercialization of Valentine’s Day and make it a tad more unique than the average day for the people I love so dearly.
I enjoy giving gifts, but my favorite way of expressing my love and gratitude for the special people in my life is writing cards. Let’s be real—the people I hold the closest have annoying habits. There are frustrations in these relationships and sometimes more negativity that I would like. Valentine’s Day is a great reminder to celebrate all the good and love. After all, that’s what love is, right? Love is accepting, embracing and appreciating the good as well as the bad. My mom, dad, siblings, best friends, and significant other may all have habits and traits that can drive me crazy, but Valentines Day is about celebrating those people and what they mean to me.
Don’t Forget that VIP
If go out of my way to express my love and appreciation towards all these people, how could I forget the most important person? Too often I over look this person and forget to tell her she is incredible.
That important person is me!
Yep, you read that correctly: me. I am the most important person in my life, and love starts with me, so why not take a moment to celebrate all the amazing things I love about myself?
I know it sounds crazy and maybe self indulgent, but it’s a little too easy to let all the negative things about myself get in the way and overshadow all the good. The negative shit has a way of stealing all my attention and focus and I forget about all the things that make me wonderfully me. It often feels hard to love myself when I am not the version of myself that I want to be… yet. But that means I am spending my whole life waiting to love myself; I am waiting for life rather than living it. Life is now. I can choose to celebrate the awesome stuff now even if there are things about myself I want to work on. It’s a reminder that the undesirable stuff about me doesn’t negate any of the positive—rather, it lives in coexistence. Creating perfectly imperfect me.
The Love Challenge
If we are willing to put the disagreements, frustrations, and negativity aside for the people in our lives, we should be willing to treat ourselves with the same kindness.
There is so much about me that is amazing and wonderful. And since love can be celebrated everyday I’m not going to wait a whole year to write myself a love note. I’m going to do it today. I hope you do the same.
Today is a great day to celebrate yourself and practice some self love (TWEET THAT SHIT!). If that seems overwhelming or scary (because it often scares the shit out of me) just start off with one truthful sentence: I love or appreciate “blank” about myself. The next day add another line. By the end of the week you will have a beautiful note. Love can start small and grow from there. It takes courage to show yourself kindness, but if there is one person you are going to dare greatly for, it might as well be you. Dare to love yourself one truthful sentence at a time.