Self-love is the single most important thing one must manifest as an individual. It is so easy to get caught up in all of the worldly possessions, riches, and societal norms and standards. We often forget the significance of setting our own status quo, especially in the college/institutional environment. In college, we all seem to be on the same budget of having low funds, low attention, and no time, but those are no excuses. Self love must transcend these restrictive boundaries.
The thing about self-love is that it should be unconditional and of NO cost. It costs NOTHING to look at yourself in the mirror everyday and recognize that while everything else around us seems to be falling in destruction, you are still standing. You are alive to see another day, and you possess beauty in the struggle. Expenses and materialistic things do not define the extent to which self-love can reach. Not being able to “afford” to love yourself simply means that your priorities need to be reevaluated, as self-love should come first as one cannot possibly know how to love another if they do not know how to love themselves.
Our studies are important, our deadlines must be met, our attention should be on graduating and overall success. Yes this is all true, but it should not come at any cost to your health, and YES self love is a part of good health. While college seems to be the black hole of our attention, we have to make it a priority to pull away sometimes and focus on ensuring we feel appreciated for our hard work, even if that appreciation is only coming from within rather than from others. Set your sights and attention on studying and work, but do not do so to the overwhelming extent of self neglect.
The overwhelming aspects of college are recognized by administrators, parents, students, and all other members of society. College is hard. Work is constantly piling up, classes are progressively becoming more difficult, tests and deadlines seem to never end, and time seems to be our worst enemy. However, if we find that the time we need for ourselves does not exist, WE MUST CREATE IT. We must make room for ourselves in this compact closet of time because there will never seem to be enough of it.
These four+ years in college are the most important times for an individual when it comes to career development, mental/emotional/physical development, and capacity development. In reality, the development of all three departments will remain stagnant if we forget to love ourselves first.
