"You Gotta Love Yourself Boo.
Let’s get real for a moment with a topic that’s close to my heart, self-love. Self-love isn’t getting the love it should as often as it should. I get it, especially as women, we tend to put others first. Sometimes it’s our families, friends and sometimes even work. Whatever it is, the self-love gets put on the back burner and that needs to stop! Self-love needs to be at the front of our minds at all times. Just as they advise to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you helping others, your self-love needs to be your priority. And guess what? That doesn’t make you selfish. It makes you stronger!
Choose Yourself
Self-love is different for each and every one of us. Just like how we are all unique individuals, our self-love is the same way. Self-love to me is about creating a balance in my life. It’s working on my physical and emotional health and well-being. It’s finding time for me to enjoy the things I love to do like reading, traveling or writing along with spending quality time with my loved ones. Taking care of my body so I can be healthy is another important aspect of my self-love journey. It’s about being confident with who I am as a person and where I am in my life. I say journey because, this whole self-love thing is still something I am working on and no matter where I am in life, I think it’s something that continues to change and evolve as I do too.
My Self-love Journey
We are going to get personal here for a minute. You never what someone is going through until you walk a mile in their shoes and I hate to say it but it can be easy to fool the people around you. My self-love journey is one in progress and am thankful and blessed to say it’s nearly balanced to where I think and want it to be. It’s taken a few years to overcome some of the trauma from a previous relationship that kept me from loving myself. At one point in my life, I didn’t feel like I was good enough. I was broken and lost and I even got a tattoo in Latin that translates to “I am enough” just below my collar bone as a daily reminder. One that I am proud to say I no longer need. (I am now trying to have it removed, unsuccessfully so far, so if you know of someone who can help with that let me know!)
Don’t Give Up
Thankfully, God put the right people and experiences in my life that helped to guide me back to loving myself. I learned to cut out the toxic people and only surround myself with people who added positivity. My journey, even though rough, taught me how to let go of many things and people. It taught me to say yes to new adventures and to fill my heart with positivity. I went from feeling like a shell of a person to having a life back in my soul instead of someone who was just existing. The most important thing self-love taught me was to be a better person for myself and those around me. This included my own children which is very difficult to admit. I know some may not understand this but lacking self-love held me back from being the best version of a mother. Just taking care and loving my boys wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to show them more and to be an example to them. How could I teach them self-confidence or self-love if I didn’t love myself? Just like the oxygen mask, how could I help someone else breathe when I wasn’t even breathing myself?
It’s All About That Love
When I heard about the Fred & Far Self Love Pinky ring, I knew that was the perfect way for me to remind myself of my own self-love. What better way than to make a commitment to myself than with a ring of self-love? And now, I have a little and a prettier daily reminder of my own journey and the importance it holds in my heart.
Thank you all for allowing me to share this very personal and important story with you all. "
- Amanda
Originally published on AmandaMontiel.com