I Hope You Love The Hell Out Of Yourself, But Always Try To Be Better Than Yesterday

Hey you. I hope you close your eyes and take a deep breath. I hope you feel the air filling your lungs. I hope you feel the stretch through every cell and fiber and muscle of your body—opening, welcoming a new day.

I hope you smile at your reflection, run your fingers tenderly through your hair. I hope you lean back and let the shower water run over you, cleansing you, allowing you to begin—beautifully, and all over again.

I hope you slip into clothes that make you feel good. I hope you put lotion on your hands and arms with gentleness, with patience. I hope you turn and twist in front of that mirror, dancing with simple joy at being alive—at being here, at simply being.

I hope each day, you find a reason to celebrate who you are, who you’ve been, who you are continually becoming. I hope you learn to see yourself as complex and flawed and different, and yet, so wildly wonderful and unique.

I hope you love the hell out of yourself, every single day.
But I hope you always try to be better than yesterday.

Because self-love is not blindness. It is not seeing yourself as the center of the universe, as an item of absolute perfection. But it is knowing that you are chaotic and messy and forever-changing.

True self-love is continually learning to accept yourself, to challenge yourself, and to grow into a new version of yourself, every single day.

I hope you stop listening to the voices of the world—the voices that tell you you’re supposed to act or look or be a certain way. I hope you stop thinking there’s some level you’re supposed to measure up to, some bar you’re supposed to reach. I hope you stop feeling like you’re less, like you’re not good enough, like you’re unworthy or unlovable or too far gone to experience real love and joy.

I hope you turn away from anyone who doesn’t make you feel whole, from anyone who treats you with less respect than you deserve, from anyone who breaks you, rather than builds. I hope you run from hands that inflict pain, from words that shatter your soul.

I hope, instead, you fill yourself with light, become light, create light. I hope you love yourself with such passion and fierceness, the people around you have no choice but to match.

I hope you continually try to improve, to shine brighter than the day before, to be more. For yourself, not for anyone else.

I hope you never settle for less—from the world, and with yourself. Because you are deserving of better. And sometimes you are the only one who can get you there.

I hope you quit finding value in others’ thoughts and perspectives and build them within your own mind. I hope you push yourself, make goals, and meet them, no matter how great the obstacle.

I hope you take time to laugh, to smile, to dance like a fool in the mirror because life isn’t meant to be taken so damn seriously.

And most of all, I hope you live a life that you can look back on with pride. Knowing that you showered love on people and on yourself, and that you continually pushed to be better with every breath.