Love Yourself For No One Other Than You

It was the final minute of my mile, I cranked the speed up to 8 miles per hour, and I started sprinting. I am not a runner, I have never been a runner. Running a 10 minute mile is impressive for me. In these final moments of weakness, when I normally think I can’t finish, I would tell myself I wasn’t good enough, strong enough, skinny enough. Words that I have told myself so many times. Words that I have used to temporarily push myself to finish the mile, but in turn completely defeat me. This time was different. This time I changed how I internally spoke to myself.

You are beautiful. You are strong. You are kind. You are intelligent. You are hilarious. You are compassionate. You are loving. You got this. I believe in you.

Then, like that. I had finished the mile, with a smile on my face.

For the first time in my life, I am loving me, for me. My imperfections, my qualities, my quirks, my body, my heart, my soul. I love them. I am not only loving them, I am practicing telling myself how much I love them. I am working on taking care of myself that means loving myself just as much as I love anyone else.

I deeply care about other people. This is something many people tell me is their favorite thing about me. However, I would put myself by the wayside, and channel my love to everyone and everything around me. I realized that channeling my love internally would only magnify the love I can give externally.

The person we forget to love the most is ourselves. We live in a society where we are constantly comparing ourselves to people, celebrities, or to this made up version of ourselves we think is better. It creates a negative dialogue that we are only sharing with ourselves. You are you that is what makes you so special. There is no one else in the world that is exactly like you.

You are beautiful, because you are authentically you.

Instead of telling yourself how you can be better, tell yourself how amazing you are right in this very moment. Be kind to your body, be kind to your heart, you can do so much damage by telling yourself words that are just simply not true. The more love we give, the more love we receive. This is especially important when it comes to loving ourselves.

Love yourself, for you. It will change everything.