Love You.

When was the last time you said ‘I love you?’?

Not to someone else- not to a relative, lover, or friend. But to yourself.

It occurred to me recently that most of us- myself included- spend our lives with an expectation that people will affirm or reaffirm things for us that we already know about ourselves. We await for praises, compliments and even notes from others that hardly ever come. Lastly, we even expect people to pick us up or even save us from ourselves.

One thing I’ve learnt and I continue to draw strength from is that there is nothing wrong with affirming or constantly showing love to oneself. Consequently, even when others do affirm things for you, it will not have any solid ground if you do not already believe in it yourself.

Some of us have conditioned ourselves for far too long to mimic the ideas and beliefs of others who we have deemed to be perfect that we cannot even recognize the sound of our own voices or creativity, much more our own authenticity.

Consider this: in this lifetime, there is only one person who has seen you walk through all the highs and lows of life, and that is you. The least you could do is to love yourself unabashedly and unapologetically.

How crazy is it that we walk with ourselves all this while, yet it is ourselves that we continue to ignore, to set aside like an old sock.

We choose to prioritize our unfulfilling jobs, our friends, relationships instead of prioritizing ourselves. We choose to our so much of ourselves to loving others, yet we fail to do the same for ourselves.

So, today I choose to remind you to pour into yourself. To set time for yourself and to remind yourself how incredibly amazing you are. Remember, the way you view yourself and see yourself outweighs whatever anyone will ever say to you. So, don’t shrink yourself by aiming to be a caricature of someone else- we already see so many of those in movies and on social media.

But, be dynamic. Be dynamically you and take pride in who you are.

But most of all, tell yourself you love yourself at every moment and at every turn because you deserve to hear it from yourself.