February is all about showing your affection and appreciation, whether it be for a significant other or your loved ones, but I’ve learned it’s hard to accept love or give it out when you don’t have it for yourself.
What better way to remind others of this than to ask them the question of what they love most about themself, which I went ahead and did:
Jacob Domingo (Rutgers New Brunswick): “I love that I usually care more about the memory and how funny something will be over the embarrassment in the moment, especially with friends.”
Pam Picerno (Clark University): “Definitely my loyalty, dependability, kindness and humor. Although I sometimes worry too much about what other people think, I think these same worries translate into always being there for the people I care about and doing everything in my power not to let them down. Similarly, I think my kindness and humor are useful for lightening the mood during serious situations and making others feel at home in my presence, both of which are really important to me.”
Miguel Ver (Rutgers Newark): “I am a very friendly person. When people first meet me, they find it easy to befriend me because of my personality. As a socially awkward person who struggles to be outgoing, I think that my friendly personality helps me make connections and helps me get to know people.”
Jen Garcia (Montclair State): “My smile. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it especially since I got my braces off at the end of eighth grade. I know I’m very blessed and privileged to have a nice, healthy set of teeth. I always try to find a reason to smile and show it off and just to be happy and make other people feel happy because I have seen people smile after I smile. So maybe it helps them.”
Arjun Patel (St. Bonaventure University): “My hard work and determination. I like to think that I give my all to anything that I start, whether that be school work, internships, family or friends. Hard work and determination are what helped me find some of my best friends in the world and helped me get my internship and job offer this past year.
Allie Prieto (Montclair State): “I think my favorite thing about myself is my thoughtfulness. For example … when I gave Megan’s (that’s me!) Christmas gift, I like to tie in a fun memory we had together and incorporate that into the gift. So me and Megan played volleyball together, so I got her a volleyball for Christmas.”
Marie Elbert (Rutgers New Brunswick): “I am hardworking and determined, which has pushed me to do things that I’m scared of and accomplish goals. I am also empathetic and always try to give the benefit of the doubt to people since I try to understand where they are coming from. These things have led me to want to do good and give back and make a positive impact on the world not because I should but because I genuinely want to put in the effort to.”
Megan Lim a.k.a the author of this article (Montclair State): I’m really grateful that I have the ability to see a lot of beauty in the things around me, both in the big and small moments. Whether it’s me and my friends running around the top deck of our school parking lot, blasting music in my car or starting off my day feeling extra peaceful while sipping on some tea, I’m happy to be aware of how lovely everything around me is.
I hope you all have something you love about yourself and that we normalize proudly sharing these things without wondering if it’s weird or conceited to do so. Cheers to falling in love with yourself a little bit more every day :)