By: Megan Eisele

Falling in love can be simple. You meet someone, you have chemistry, and, eventually, you share a mutual attraction. It seems easy enough, so why is falling in love with yourself so much harder?

Often, around Valentine’s Day, society focuses on loving others. From cards to chocolates to fancy dinners, we romanticize the idea of loving someone else, but the focus never seems to be on growing within yourself.

In reality, loving yourself is the ultimate foundation for living a better life. A large aspect of loving yourself is finding your purpose and working towards success. Personally, I enjoy acts of self-care when I find myself struggling with knowing my purpose and self-worth. Self care can be as simple as making myself a cup of coffee or taking a long shower with essential oils.

After being in a romantic relationship for several years now, I truly see the importance of taking the time to really care for yourself in order to better love others. It is easy to focus on others and helping their needs, but ours are just as important, if not more important. I find that, in addition to self-care acts, setting time aside for myself each week is a must. Every night, before bed, I try to give myself some ‘me time.’ This time involves no texting or work / emails, but rather a TV show, scrolling through social media, or even online shopping. This ‘pause’ at night helps to keep me focused on myself.

Small tasks of self-care can eventually transition into a more self-loving mindset. When we take the time to care for ourselves, we can not only see our value, but it reminds us of our goals and our purpose. Hopefully, we can all spend more time in February focusing on loving ourselves, not just our significant others. □

Article Credits

By: Megan Eisele

Photographer: Polina Kovaleva