Love... "A person or thing that one loves." A small, four-letter word that has such big meaning. Love is always on our radar, but especially now in February -- "the month of love." This month, and specifically Valentine's Day, we are surrounded by utmost affection and admiration for one another. Whether you love it or hate it, you can't escape it. You definitely can't escape love.

Love is everything, this great feeling and emotion, and it is love that "makes the world go 'round..." These are the things we are told and say, time and time again. We seem to realize how important love is, but we tend to think love isn't as important if we don't have someone to share it with... But we're wrong.

We have this day, called Valentine's Day, that is entirely dedicated to expressing our utter affection and devotion to the ones we love. We invest our time, money, and energy into making this day significant, and get so caught up in thinking we need a significant other to do so.

We're so willing to express our love to others, but really don't stop to think how important it is to love ourselves.

Why is that?

You could argue that it's because it's easier said than done, and you're right - but everything is easier said than done, and even if it may not be easy, it's worth it; we are all worth it.

One of the biggest lessons we learn in life is how to love and care for others. We learn to be selfless and love unconditionally. So, then, why do we find it so hard to return the favor and love and care for ourselves? I think it's time we try, really try, to practice what we preach.

We can't live a life of "if, then" thinking...

"If I had this, then I'd be happy."

"If I looked like that, then I could love myself."

This way of thinking will do nothing but stop us from enjoying and loving life, which goes hand in hand with loving ourselves.

So, if we learn to accept ourselves and love ourselves as we do others, then we can realize that love and happiness are not a destination, but rather, a way of life. We are taught to love unconditionally, so we need to learn to love ourselves in the same way.

Learning to love yourself is a process, but you are allowed to see yourself as both a work in progress and a masterpiece. Self-love is a journey, but as we all know, the joy of the journey is in the ride.

We all have to learn to not be so hard on ourselves and try our best to see ourselves as is. We must try to fall in love with everything that we are; the good, the bad, and everything in between.

Fall in love with loving yourself. You owe yourself the love that we so often deny.

The best way to love is by loving yourself first. So this Valentine's Day, choose to celebrate. Not because you have to, but because you want to. Love is worth celebrating and sharing with others, but it's also worth sharing with yourself.

You can choose to celebrate you, and that is enough -- you are always enough.

As Stephen Chbosky said, "We accept the love we think we deserve," and we deserve so much more. It's not selfish to love yourself or to take care of yourself, it's necessary. And living a life that resembles that is not selfish - it's sensible.

You deserve the kind of love that you would give someone else.

Love is just a word until someone or something gives it a meaning; self-love is just a phrase until we see ourselves worthy of love and meaning. We must celebrate love, on Valentine's Day and every day... We must love ourselves, today and every day.