Love Yourself First | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Health and Wellness

Love Yourself First

No one can love you fully until you love yourself first.

165
Love Yourself First
Unsplash

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I felt it was appropriate to write about the one thing that so many people run hot and cold with... love.

While being in love is great and loving someone is wonderful, there is one type of love that gets overlooked, self-love.

As a female on a college campus, I spend a lot of time being involved in women-led and focused organizations, and for the last two weeks, all I have heard about is how if someone does not have a significant other in their life, then Valentine's Day is just another day.

This concept caught my attention because I believe it to be so far from the truth. When did we start to view love as simply a relationship with others?

What happened to your most important relationship? The one between you and yourself.

Somewhere in between being a freshman in high school and being a senior in college our focus shifts. While we are always about lifting up other women and acting like we are confident, our main love interests move from ourselves to our possible marriage suitors.

At this point, you are probably thinking, "okay, so what"?

As I walk around campus every day I constantly see these young women putting their "possible suitors" before themselves. And after a while of putting these men before themselves, the man leaves and these strong women are broken hearted.

So what's missing in the equation? It seems like a relationship that should work out right? The reason these relationships fail is because there is a lack of self-love.

If you cannot love yourself first you are setting the bar too low for the significant others that are going to come in and out of your life.

As women, we are told from a very young age that if we do not have respect for ourselves then no one will ever respect us, why is this so different when it comes to love? How can we ever expect a man to love us to their fullest if we cannot love ourselves to the fullest first?

I want you to take a step back and reevaluate the love you have for yourself.

I know we can all act like we are pretty and have our lives together on the outside, but if you really had to talk about the parts of yourself you love what would you say? And beyond that, how much of the information would be more than surface level?

I'm going to let you in on a little secret now, we are all beautiful, strong and smart women. The only person that prevents ourselves and others from seeing that is us. In order for others to see you worthy of all their love, we have to believe we are worthy.

I challenge you to make this Valentine's Day all about you. Spend some time doing a face mask, sweating it out in hot yoga or binge-watching Nicholas Sparks movies and when the day is over be prepared to change your mindset.

No one can love you fully until you love yourself first!

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

300906
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments