Happy (Almost-) Valentine's day! I have a question for you: do you love yourself?*
It's a valid question, with a difficult answer. Maybe you like your personality, but not your physical body (that would be me, hellooo).
Maybe there are parts of yourself that you pray never see the light of day. Maybe you have an addiction. Maybe you self-harm. Maybe you starve yourself. Maybe you do all of this because you're listening to the demon in the mirror that tells you you're not good enough.
There is an idea in psychology called "self-concept" that condenses a lot of our self-deprecation into a short sentence:
self-con·cept
noun
1. An idea of the self; constructed from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of others.
noun
1. An idea of the self; constructed from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of others.
Don't let an idea of the self manipulate who you really are. You can love yourself, because God loves you, no matter who you think you are. You may think you're not worth it, but you are. When that demon in the mirror starts to talk, you shout back at it and say, "I am worth it! I am valuable! I love myself, I value myself!"** You are a creature of unique and beautiful design, and no one else has your soul.
This Valentine's day, and EVERY day, make sure you take care of yourself and encourage yourself. Think about it this way, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt— "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."— not even you.
**Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself