Love, Love, Love

Ahh yes, it's love day again!

Last year, my mom and I had a mini-photoshoot (a "fauxto"-shoot if you will) where I dressed up and we tried for an hour to get a good picture of me blowing Valentine confetti around. As far as I know, this is the only good one we ended up with! haha. But it was a lot of fun, and we laughed about it a bunch. Plus we got a few neat shots out of the deal! Hearts are my favorite shape, so of course Valentine's day is one of my favorite holidays.

Fun fact:
Have you ever seen the conversation hearts with "143" written on them and wonder what the meaning behind it is? Well, wonder no more because the answer is, "I love you." Shocking right? I find it funny because "I love you" fits on most candy hearts, so there really isn't any reason to shorten it to numbers.

Whether you are spending Valentine's day single, with your love, alone, or otherwise, I hope you have a great day and don't let all of the hype/pressure about how you "should be in a relationship/married/pregnant by now" get to you. If you need some reasons for why it doesn't matter, just look in the mirror. You're awesome! Think of all the cool things you like about yourself. Today of all days is a good time to treat yourself, and fall in love with yourself.

(I've been holding on to that graphic for quite a while now, not going to lie.)

It can take a long time to learn to love yourself. I am not saying the road is an easy one, or that the minute you do that it will stay that way for life. You will have awesome days and crappy days, and plenty of days in-between. But YOU are worthy of love. You are allowed to love yourself because that love is most deserved and it is not as selfish as it seems.

The quote "fall in love with yourself" comes from the song "Anklebiters" by Paramore, which you can listen to here:

The next line is "because someday you're gonna be the only one you've got." I think it's a good point that needs to be made. You have to live with yourself full-time, so you should love the person you've become. It doesn't matter what other people think most of the time, because at some point they won't be there and you'll be left alone with your thoughts and your dreams.  Relying on others as your sole source of love isn't any way to live. If you love yourself it makes it so much easier for others to love you too.

Your body is unique. Every scar is a masterpiece. They prove you have survived. Your body image is only dictated by your confidence in it, so rock what you've got! Somebody doesn't like it? Forget them! As George R. R. Martin wrote, "Words are wind." They can only hurt you if you let them. (Maybe I shouldn't be quoting him after all... ) You are a one-of-a-kind snowflake. And YOU. DESERVE. TO. LOVE. YOURSELF. The whole package. Flaws and all. And not just for today, love yourself every day.

So with that, I leave you with a couple of adorkable pictures that will be on my Instagram later. If you want to catch up with me, it's best to do so there! I finished my TETRIS afghan, but that's for another post.