Happy Love Month
February is the month of LOVE. Love for your significant other, your parents, your siblings, your children, your family, your neighbors, your friends, but most importantly Love for YOU! We don’t often speak about love for self. And when we do, we tend to feel selfish, conceded, or arrogant. The self-love I’m speaking about isn’t close to being selfish, conceded, or arrogant. It’s really the opposite. It’s about taking care of YOU so you can serve OTHERS better. It’s the whole concept of: if cabin pressure is lost on an aircraft, you are directed to put YOUR oxygen mask on FIRST, then assist others with their masks. You aren’t any good to anyone if you are out of oxygen passing out on the floor. And how many times in our lives have we felt out of oxygen ready to pass out?
By taking care of yourself, by loving yourself enough to refuel, reboot, re-energize when needed, you will be full of oxygen to serve others more efficiently and effectively. You are giving the best version of yourself to others, not the almost passing out version of yourself.
You are also demonstrating to others how to take care of themselves. If you take care of yourself with balance and love, you give others permission to do the same for themselves. You are being a role model. Setting a standard for a whole, healthy YOU! As others witness you taking time for yourself to do the things you enjoy, step out of chaos for a while, treat yourself to some pampering or even just focus on a few moments of YOU time, they will know they too can do the same thing to start feeling whole and healthy. Encourage and empower others to love themselves like you love them. Help them see themselves through your eyes. But remember to also see yourself through the eyes of those who love you.
If you treat yourself with kindness and self-care, others will know how you expect to be treated. If you belittle yourself and run yourself into the ground, others will have permission to treat you that way as well. You are setting your own precedence on how you expect the world to treat you. Show up in your own life whole and healthy, confident, and strong with a positive mindset and a full heart. Treat others with grace and love and expect it back from them. If you don’t receive it, remind yourself that they may be struggling in a way you can’t even imagine and choose to accept they are not in a place to share your love. Be the example on what self-love looks like and you may be planting a life changing seed.
Take time to remind yourself how amazing you are; that you have accomplished hard, great things in your life; that you are worthy and deserving of love and it starts from YOU! Love on yourself like you love your family and friends. Be your best friend. You are the only person you are with 24/7. Be sure you like YOU! Love and accept YOU just the way you are right now. We are all forever a masterpiece and work in progress.
I invite you to take some time in this month of Love to love on YOU! To remember how important self-love is and how it is the key to a whole, healthy YOU! What can you do today to start this wonderful self-love? I challenge you to start today and make it a daily practice so every day you are whole, healthy, full of oxygen and ready to serve others as the best version of the loved YOU!
