SELF LOVE

*Outfit details: Bodysuit & Jeans (Eggie) | Bag (Lulus) | Shoes (Shoes of Prey)

I am always preaching about self love and I know it might be an overdone topic, but with some recent news that I discovered from my past, I thought I’d address why this subject means so much to me. Growing up, I cared a lot about what people thought about me. I was a people pleaser and wanted to be friends with everybody. Even though there were times when I knew a certain person or group wasn’t who I wanted to associate myself with, I still wanted to be liked. And if I found out that people were talking bad about me, it realllllly got to me.

I’m one of those people that finds it difficult to let things go. As much as I believe in it and try to own that saying, it’s actually quite a struggle. I remember in school, I would let the smallest things get to me like a test grade or being late to an appointment or even as finding out that someone didn’t like me. I hate confrontations and I would let things sink in so much that it would affect my sleep. Now that I’ve grown older and have transitioned into being a real adult, I’ve learned to cut toxic people and things out my of life and also have learned to not sweat the small things. But even now, I have to remind myself to do this as it doesn’t come naturally.

I actually have a tattoo in the back of my neck that says “liberare” which means to be free in Latin. I got it while I was studying abroad and on cloud 9 as I had no worries in the world. Little did I know that this tattoo resonates so dearly to me that it’s basically my life motto and reminder. I wanted the tattoo as a symbol of my love for travel because the feeling I would always get through traveling was freedom. I now have broaden that meaning to being free from worries, stress and anything that isn’t bringing me happiness.

This all brings me back to the subject of self love because I think too often, especially as women, we are depending on others for our happiness and value and I am guilty of this as well. I am so sick and tired of needing validation from anyone because at the end of the day, the only person that I should truly care about is myself. Over the last year, I have learned to be an independent woman and to fully seek acceptance in who I am because I am living this life and nobody else’s.  You’ve all heard this before, but if we can’t love ourselves, we can’t love others.

I can’t truly say that I have this whole self love thing down, but I can tell you that I am working on it day by day. I am learning to breathing in and soaking all the positive things in my life and breathing out and letting go of all the negative things. Ignorance is bliss because I’ve realized that when you find certain things out that you didn’t know before, it can bring you stress, turmoil and heart aches. Sometimes it’s best not to know, but it’s also beneficial to acknowledge it and then release it. I know this is more of a personal post but I really just wanted to share what I’ve been going through and how I’ve been feeling and if this helps just one of you to know that you’re not alone, than I will be happy with that.