Love Yourself. Treat Yourself

By Shannah Rudiger

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       Valentine’s day is now upon us! Everyone sees Valentine’s day as a holiday for couples to show their love for one another, but this holiday doesn’t have to be solely about couples. Those of us that are not in a relationship can use this day to show love for ourselves. Loving yourself is important and all about self-acceptance. As Tyra Banks once said, “Self-love has very little to do with how you feel about your outer self. It's about accepting all of yourself.”

       Loving yourself is such an important aspect. Not only does it teaches you to love and accept yourself, but it also teaches you what love is and how to love someone else. So yes, being single isn’t bad. Loving yourself is far more important than being in a relationship.  A famous quote states, “In order to love someone else you must love yourself.” Hailee Steinfeld has a song about self-love titled “Love Myself,” which talks about how loving yourself means you don’t have to have someone else there and that loving yourself is all you need. (“Gonna love myself, no, I don’t need anybody else”) Especially if you have just gotten out of a relationship, the self-love you have for yourself can help you so much, as it allows you to remember you still have love in your life; it isn’t gone.

       Treating yourself can help facilitate you to have that self-love within yourself. A way that someone could treat themselves for self-love this Valentine’s Day could simply be making themselves a wonderful breakfast. You don’t have to stop at just making yourself breakfast, though. You can also make yourself a nice dinner or bake millions of sweets just for you!

 You can even binge watch whatever you want on Netflix, or just find something new to watch! The important thing is that it’s all for you. You can tell yourself each and everything you love about yourself, like how awesome you rocked that test or how amazing your creative skills are. Don’t be negative, be positive and say everything you love about yourself. In the wise words of Tom and Donna from Parks and Rec “Treat Yo Self!” 

       In honor of self-love, help someone who might not have much self-love in their life, and let them know that they are amazing and self-love is as important as loving someone else. Helping someone know about self-love can have such an impact on their life. Compliment someone on what they are wearing, how their hair or shoes look, or just tell them how nice you think they are. Being nice to someone is free and it creates a domino effect.

Show kindness today and every day.