A little note on SELF-LOVE
Me in one trying to fight away all the negative self talk and attempting to embrace my body, not waiting for a “summer body” any body is a beach ready!🤎
Oh Hello!
How are you today? I hope you’ve had a good weekend and managed to soak up a bit of sunshine if you had any.
I’ve been trying to make the most of it myself — chasing that vitamin D — although I did manage to get nicely burnt the other morning, which was less than ideal. Note to self: the early sun does burn. Standing in the bathroom later that day, slowly rubbing aftersun into my shoulders (the bottle from the back of my cupboard, most likely out of date and with the remnants of last summer still clinging to the top of the bottle. Covered in sand from where I would have clumsily dropped it on the beach), I realised how rarely I stop and appreciate my body, appreciate the softness of my skin, the muscles, the slightly squidgy parts too. I very very rarely stop and appreciate what my body actually does for me.
And that got me thinking a lot about self love. So I thought we could chat about it.
This is a topic on which I feel as though I have lots to say and I like to think I am always there to give friends a helping hand and a boost of confidence. But if I am honest I am not always great at taking my own advice and putting what I say into practice.
So I thought, I’d write a post — although I don’t think I’ll get it all down in one go, haha — and we can all learn together.
I think I am going to start this by saying what I think self love is. For me self love means
loving yourself but that doesn't mean you have to love everything about yourself all the time. I hate using the word but it’s a journey.
Self love is waking up on a morning and thinking yeah I’m pretty good me, I can do this. It’s believing in yourself through the highs and lows. It’s looking in the mirror and being kind to the reflection you see. It’s reminding yourself everything your body does for you. It’s being kind to yourself at the stage you are at in life at that moment.
It’s not comparing yourself to everyone you see online. It’s embracing all of the goods and bads. It’s embracing the uniqueness.
Self love is picking an outfit you like and taking time to look at yourself and appreciate the small things, and not picking everything apart. It’s on those days you’re feeling fab putting on that dress to accentuate your figure and being fine wearing the boxy t-shirt dress the next time you're not feeling as flaunty.
Self love is being kind to your body and your mind. It’s treating yourself to the things you love and not feeling guilty. It’s treating yourself in the kind way you treat others. Self love is so much deeper and complex than just loving your figure.
To quote one of my favourite musicals, self love is being able to stand loud and clear and say, THIS IS ME! — and being proud of that.
For me at least — and maybe some of you can relate — self love comes in days with and days without. Sometimes it might even be weeks with and weeks without. And that’s okay.
You can’t expect yourself to love everything about yourself 24/7 but it’s fine to give it a good old try.
The moral of the story is this: you’re fab, you’re unique, you’re you — and that is your superpower. So do yourself justice and be proud of who you are. Be bold, be brave, be you.
Speak soon.
Bye xx