We all know the importance of self-love. It has been one of the most trendy themes on social media and the self-help industry capitalizes on it. However, self-love is not as easy as posting a selfie or as straightforward as most articles that write about it make it seem to be.
There are no ten steps to self-love. In fact, self-love is a chaotic journey of self-discovery that tests our vulnerability again and again even if we think we have arrived at it.
Self-love is not posting a picture with the hashtag #selflove but struggling to sleep because it only has two likes. Self-love is doing what we love because it makes us feel good, not because it makes us ‘appear’ to feel good. It is not an excuse but a commitment to work on ourselves while knowing we will be ok no matter how things turn out.
Self-love is not closing off from everyone when we are exhausted, but knowing when we need to recharge ourselves so our battery never runs out. However, if we feel like our battery is running low and we can’t recharge it ourselves, self-love is also knowing when to ask for help and it’s ok to ask for help so others can help us check on the state of health of our battery.
Self-love doesn’t work by flipping the switch, but by establishing and building a connection with ourselves consistently over time so that every cell in our body recognizes the patterns of what’s good and what’s bad for us. As a result, self-love arms us with a strong magnet that attracts positivity in our lives and a strong immune system that shields us from the penetration of toxicity.
Because the goal is not to arrive at self-love, but to acquire and develop self-love as we go so that it shows us the best directions to continue our journey.
