My Devotion to Loving Myself

I got this crazy idea to write a love letter to myself to kick off February. My original idea was one of those letters to my younger self but I feel like a love letter to myself engulfs all of that. I feel like I can write that letter on my twenty-sixth birthday because there is so much I wish younger Brittnee knew but now is not the time.

Now is the time to celebrate loving myself (and you loving yourself!).

A lot of people might think it’s silly to write a love letter to yourself but that’s self-love, am I right? So I’m going to talk about self-love and the appreciation I have for myself with the hope that it’ll inspire someone else or give someone else the idea to ignore their flaws and think about the good things about themselves.

We go on and on about self-love so I’m going to give myself some love and I hope you tune in and get inspired to love all over you. Declare your love for yourself and how amazing you are. Do it and feel good about yourself because sometimes, we need to do that. We need to think about all the good things and how we’ve overcome a challenge here and there to remind ourselves that the storm doesn’t last forever.

I’ve been in a relationship for some time now and I think the best move I ever made before getting into a relationship is loving myself. I never grew up with the idea that I needed love from other people to feel love and I’m talking people outside my family. My parents raised me in a way where I didn’t need to depend on people all the time. I never needed to be in a relationship to feel good about myself but I haven’t always felt good about myself and that’s on me. I never needed to jump into a relationship to feel something and I think that’s why I appreciate the relationship I am in because my boyfriend isn’t clingy or needy – he lets me be independent and tells me to put my big girl pants on all the time.

But, my point is that I didn’t always love myself or think I was great.

I think a lot of us feel this way and it can wreck us. You know, it sucks to not realize how amazing or great you are because of the comparison game. There are so many factors that could play into thinking down on yourself like a toxic relationship or friendship gone bad or so many more things. We control how we feel and we control how we react to things so if something puts us down, that’s something we have let affect us.

I would let a lot of things affect me, things I had control over that I could have stopped.

There have been so many times when someone insulted me while complimenting a friend or questioned my decisions because they made different decisions and I would let that bother me. I’ve been in a terrible relationship and after that relationship, I took a step back.

That relationship was a toxic relationship and led to a point in my life where I told myself that I wasn’t going to let a guy be everything to me while I’m not all that to him.

That was my turning point because I engulfed myself in loving myself. I told myself that I couldn’t commit to someone unless I loved myself and talked myself up. I wasn’t going to go into a relationship where I was insecure and letting old things affect me.

Smart move on my part.

It’s a smart move on many people’s part because we’re choosing ourselves and there is nothing wrong with that.

By choosing myself, I chose happiness and I want to say thank you to myself for choosing self-love over everything else during the college years. I want to tell myself thank you for making myself a priority and for realizing I’m enough. Thank you for seeing my self-worth and building myself up to not let something distract me from who I am.

It’s not selfish to choose you over everyone else. If I hadn’t chosen myself, I might have settled for something that wasn’t good for my soul. And, I’m the person that refuses to settle. I can’t settle because settling is similar to giving up in my book. I needed to love myself enough to share myself with someone else and to let them see how wonderful I am and I did that. It took some time but I did that. And, I love myself for practicing self-care and self-love.

During this lovey-dovey season, let’s remember to love our self first. Love yourself so much. I love myself so much. I adore myself. I’m proud of myself and I can’t wait to see what’s next for me.

Every single day, I’m proud I took a step back for an overview and took a huge leap into focusing on myself and figuring out the person I wanted and needed to be. If I hadn’t done that, I probably would have settled and never met my boyfriend which would have been a shame – such a shame because we’re pretty great together if I do say so myself.

My advice to you and you? Love yourself.

And, don’t let anyone tell you that it’s selfish or self-absorbed because it’s not. You need to love yourself and accept that you are great and use that to fuel a better you.

What should you do to commit to this relationship?

• Invest in some good self-help and self-love books, they’ll open your eyes to a new light about yourself. You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life is a great book that I’m currently reading and loving.
• Take the time out of the day to write down the things that make you feel good.
• Remember to take time for yourself and your health — don’t let things pile up on you where you eventually crash.
• Write about some things that you are grateful for — start or end each day on a good note.
• Focus on yourself whether that’s stepping away from social media, doing yoga, taking a walk. Find something that will help you focus on yourself for twenty minutes.
• When something makes you feel uncomfortable, confront that situation so it doesn’t take over your brain.
• Let your emotions flow. There is no reason to hold in all your feelings because that crash is not a good crash. Be vulnerable and feel your emotions.
• Last but not least, stop the comparison game. It’s not a fun game and everyone has a different path that they must take.

You’ll see how wonderful you are.

Be good to yourself.

You are amazing. You are beautiful. You are loved. You are enough. You are a priority.