Whether you’re single, dating, or married, this Valentine’s Day, choose to intentionally love. Here’s what loving yourself is.
It’s separating yourself from your vices.
Love yourself enough to know when you need to let something (or someone) go. If you eat too many peanut butter M&Ms, stop buying them at the store. If the jeans you can’t squeeze in anymore make you feel insecure, toss the pants. If you constantly feel lesser than or hurt by someone in your life, let them go. You have the autonomy to make those decisions. It’s ok to realize you don’t like feeling bad and then do something about it. After all, you are in charge of the changes you need to make.
It’s being you!
Being comfortable in your own skin means loving who you are as a person. It’s laudable to constantly try to be a better version of ourselves, of who we already are. But there’s a big difference in bettering yourself and becoming a different person altogether. If you’re not sure if you’re becoming better or becoming different, ask yourself this question: is the change I’m making helping me grow and become a better person or am I changing just for the sake of change – or worse, because someone else wants me to?
It’s taking the focus off you and putting it on someone else.
We are at our best when we are doing for others. When you shift your focus from yourself to someone else, you shift your perspective. You remind yourself of the importance of others. Usually, when you help someone else, you end up helping yourself in the process.
It’s knowing God sees you.
God sees even the smallest things in this world. Matthew chapter 6 says that the birds “do not sow reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (v. 26), and the flowers of the field grow but “they do not labor or spin” (v. 28). This passage encourages us that if God takes care of the birds in the air and the flowers in the field, He most definitely cares for us. Know that He walks with you each day, every step.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!