Valentine’s Day is known as the Day of Love. The day when your beau will get you flowers and chocolate. Your girl will write a sweet letter and make you something handmade. In essence, its a romantic holiday for sure. But, honestly? I’m not fond of it. It’s corporate America’s way to make even more money off of us. But, before I go on a long winded vent let’s just say that is another story for another day.

While I may be blessed with a husband who will shower me with chocolate, flowers and a cute card I’m not going to talk about that kind of love. To be fair, I can talk about that love whenever I choose to because I choose him. Always him. My best friend. Even through the bumps and bruises, the happiness and sorrow, the you stay on your side and I stay on mine bed fights, or the nights when we are just tangled in each other’s arms, I still choose him. He’s my pokemon. #suchanerd

Now that I’m done with that love plug…

I am on this grand adventure to learn to love myself. I have come to understand that if I can’t love myself I can’t truly love. A friend of mine was being silly today and didn’t (probably still doesn’t) believe that they are capable to be great. So in an effort to prove them wrong I sent a quote that said “Stop hating yourself for everything you aren’t and start loving yourself for everything you already are.” While my friend humorously told me to shove it because I told it like it is, she needed to hear what was being said.

Often times we are so caught up with the way the world wants us to see ourselves. We aren’t skinny enough. We aren’t pretty enough. We don’t have a nice smile. We aren’t educated enough (also, you should always want to learn ijs). We can get so focused on what everyone wants us to be that we lose sight of who we actually want to be. I say stop it. Stop it now.

Love yourself just as you are. Ya, so you’re flawed. Ya, you may sometimes feel icky and unattractive. Ya, you might think you have not accomplished anything. You’re so busy judging your broken pieces and trying to fit in pieces you believe everyone wants you to have. You do all of this because you think you are less then perfect and you think you are incapable of love. Guess what my loves? You. Are. Wrong. When you look in the mirror, the person you see staring back at you without filter, that is you. It doesn’t matter where you stand in life. You are unique. Made with all your quirkiness and flaws to be the person God intended you to be.

My loves, loving yourself is understanding that you don’t have to be the model you see on tv, or the athlete that gets paid the millions of dollars. You don’t have to be Dougie Howser or Einstein. You just have to be you. You have to understand that you don’t need to be perfect. You need to accept who you are, all the curves, all the chips, all the glued and taped up pieces. Because, all of that, all of that my loves is what makes you good. Isn’t that truly the thing that matters?