Today is Happy Love Yourself Day, aka Valentine’s Day.
I have always loved Valentine’s Day. When I was a little girl my dad would give me a heart-shaped box filled with the most delicious chocolates. I would immediately open the box, locate the perfectly square caramel and eat it first.
As I grew older, I endlessly hoped for a special Valentine from the current man in my life. Receiving one made me feel valued and loved.
As you can imagine, not receiving a Valentine made me feel unloved and sad. I now realize that by looking outside of myself for feelings of love and validation meant that I was giving all of my power away. I was allowing the actions or inactions of others to dictate how I felt about myself and that is such a disappointing way to live.
Allowing love into your life from others feels amazing, but it will never be enough or fulfilling enough until you are ready to love yourself. It may feel silly at first and it will require practice. Most of us are not familiar with loving ourselves because we were all told to work as hard as we could to find someone to love us. I agree, but I think that someone should be you.
A few years ago I claimed Valentine’s Day as Love Yourself Day as a reminder that loving myself first is the healthiest and most fulfilling way to live. When you love yourself you don’t need to be validated by anyone else. When you love yourself, you see how valuable you are without relying on the opinions of others.
It’s incredibly liberating to think of love from others as a bonus instead of the prize. It is like you, loving yourself is the hot fudge sundae. Love from others is the whipped cream and cherry on top. The hot fudge sundae is perfectly perfect just the way it is. It doesn’t even need the whipped cream and cherry, but would love it if it showed up to the party.
As Violet would say, you are lovable just as you are, right now. You don’t need to change a thing because you are already lovable and worth loving.
Give yourself a big hug today because you deserve it.
Hugs, Sherry