So, maybe 2016 wasn’t your year. Maybe you gave a little too much, loved a little too hard and fell a little too deep. Maybe you gave one too many chances. You may have fallen in love. You may have fallen out of love. You may have been let down. You may have been lifted up just to fall back down again.
But, 2017 is here, girl. The future is bright.
It’s been one month into the New Year. 31 days. I made it my self-guided mission to stop caring for others (for the time being) and give myself a little bit of love and attention. I made it my priority to live for me, just for one month, to report back to you and show you that it’s worth it. Here’s what happened.
2016 brought me a relationship that I loved so dearly. Things happened, things ended and things burned. I was responsible for the end, and if this was a year ago, I’d be talking down to myself and making it feel as though the world is ending. But, instead I danced. I went out. I had sleepovers with my best friends. I allowed one day to eat ice cream and sulk, but I made it a priority to be busy and silly and optimistic.
Was it hard? Don’t even get me started. But, we are 20 or 21 or 22. We are young. We must be gentle with ourselves. This is the first step.
Self love is about loving yourself before you can love someone else. You cannot give anyone else a part of you without loving every piece of yourself. I had to learn this the hard way. I was so bitter in 2016. I worried about other’s thoughts of me. I cared about judgment. I let myself be unhappy so I looked happy to everyone else.
Now, I sing in the shower. I dance alone in my room. I eat Taco Bell without remorse and wear t-shirts to class. I go out on the weekends. I sleep in when my days allow me to. I am unapologetically me and it’s been absolutely refreshing. I should’ve been doing this all along but society puts a bug in your ear saying it’s selfish to do what makes you happy.
Do it anyways. At the end of the day, you go to bed with yourself. You wake up with yourself. You do life with yourself. You’ve got yourself for life. So, why not love yourself?
The point of this article is to be able to look yourself in the mirror and feel at ease. Life is messy, but we make it too messy. We stress too much. Let your hair down, girl. Make 2017 about you. If I can do it, so can you.