Love. I'd argue it's the most powerful force in the world. It's what we, as human beings, are wired to strive towards: to love, and be loved. We watched princess movies as children and were taught that our prince would fight off any evil force that came in his path to save us - to fight for our love. Boys were taught to sweep a girl off her feet, woo her in all the ways to make her fall head over heels - open her door, bring her flowers, hold her hand.
This type of love, we know. The Disney princess, Hallmark movie, grandparents who have been married for 60+ years type of love.
But the love no one teaches us is that of ourselves. Funny how the most important type of love, we tend to neglect. This may be a foreign type of love for many of us. It's almost uncomfortable to think positively about ourselves. We feel too cocky, too out of place to relish in our accomplishments. To feel proud of ourselves, to feel beautiful, to feel like we deserve the raise or the big house or the nice car. To feel like we deserve the world and more!
It's something we're just not taught. We're told to look outside ourselves for love - for external validation, and that's how many of us gauge our worth. But this lesson is backwards, as we will never even know who we really are if we are seeking to please those around us our entire lives - we morph and become who they want us to be. Acting in whatever way we think will give us the "love" we're told we need to be complete.
Self love is the most liberating act we can commit. It gives a big middle finger up to every single person and system in place (hello, beauty industry) that says, you're not enough. Do better, be more of this, less of that, but not too much of that, and even if you do manage to still be balancing on that tightrope, you're still not cutting it.
While it's something we've taught to seek out, what we should be teaching our youth is that we are love. We embody this. We are meant to love ourselves deeply, fully, flaws and all - this, I believe we are put on this earth to do. We must learn to block out the noise around us and turn up the volume on who our souls knows us to be - and love that person fiercely.
And so, I set out to get those around me thinking: what do I love about myself? What's my favorite thing about myself? And what was not so surprising was the answers I got right off the bat:
"I don't know!" "I can't think of anything!" "I'm struggling with this!"
Like I said, for many of us, this is foreign territory. We aren't used to praising ourselves - especially on a public forum. But, that's what I seek to change today. Let's change the narrative and make saying what we love about ourselves just as easy as it is for us to say what we love about others.
And with that, I give you what I am deeming the SLM - self love movement, people! Check out the amazing, first SLM members. Thanks to all who participated, and I encourage you to keep spreading the self love! ♥
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