[Self Series] Loving Yourself

For any trip, adventure, vacation, or time away from home, preparation is necessary. For trips that take you to another continent or another country, more attention may be poured into learning about different cultures, historical accounts, and practicalities like differences in languages, currencies, and public behavior. But still, even for trips not that far away from home, preparation takes place: planning dinners, planning fun activities, getting the local secrets, packing!So, before embarking on a trip to learn about different cultures of the world, I thought we would take some time to prepare. I have dedicated this next month for what I am calling a “Self Series”.  In order to invest in the world, I think it is important that we invest in ourselves. For the next couple of weeks, let us dive into what makes each of us unique, what sets us back, and the power within each of us to overcome those set-backs so that we are able to care for those around us and, ultimately, so we are more capable of caring for the world.Let us start with loving ourselves. Loving yourself: words that can be easily expressed, but much harder to maintain.Loving yourself means so much more than loving the person you are today. It means loving everything that has steered and guided, or even altered, the steps you have taken to get to where you are today. It means loving all that is yet to come. That mistake you made yesterday, last week, last year, forever ago: it has played a part in shaping the person you are today. What do you regret? If you could, would you take anything back? Would you have a “do-over”? If you did take anything back, if you did have a “do-over”, do you think it would change who you are today? What if that mistake, that mess-up, that regret, played even the smallest part in forming who you are today? Would you still take it back? You see, mistakes are lessons. They are opportunities for you to grow, to evaluate yourself, and to prune areas of your life that need shaping. They are also opportunities that shape your future. You have a unique perspective because of mistakes you have made in the past. Love your mistakes for being opportunities that allow you to grow. Love yourself for learning from your mistakes.Loving yourself allows you to appreciate the journey that, at times, has seen many different footprints along its path and, at others, has seen all but one. All those who have accompanied you on your journey also have had a role in shaping you into who you are today. Whether those people were there for a season, or are along for the whole ride, they have grown you through joy, encouragement, inspiration, and even pain, abandonment, or heartbreak. They have revealed and strengthened qualities in yourself. Love those people for the role they have played in your life, however encouraging or painful. Likewise, all those times that you have found yourself alone have played a crucial role in shaping the person you are today. Those times have taught you of resilience, self-sufficiency, perseverance, and strength. Those times when you saw only one set of footprints along your path were actually creating a work in you. Those are not times of sadness, loneliness, or desperation. Those are times of strength, courage, and dignity. Love yourself for seeing yourself through those times.You have a story that is intricate to who you are, a story that is worth telling. You have a light that has had to hold its flame in times of darkness and uncertainty only to be shown more luminescent. So, let your bright light shine for the world to see. Let your unique story be told. For when you learn to love yourself, you are so much more capable of loving those around you; those near and far, familiar and unfamiliar. When you learn to love yourself, you can fuel the light of other whose flames may be dwindling. You can enable the voices of others whose stories are yearning to be told. When you love yourself, you can spread light to the world.So, start with today. How will you spread your light? How will you love yourself?