My Way to Reclaim Valentine’s Day

Of the many ways to love and be loved, I focus first on love of self

Today I spent my energy reclaiming Valentine’s Day and for the first time in my life, I’m grateful to rejoice in this holiday.

A huge part of why I never cared for this special day until now is because society tried so hard to convince me there’s really only one right way to celebrate today.

Valentine’s Day is all about love, right?

But for who? Because it seems that this love tends to require at least two.

So the holiday often ends up making a lot of single people feel like sore losers or shit, but to me that ain't it.

I love being single and I'm not ashamed of this. Not today. Not ever.

I’m working on myself and I have been for quite a while. As a result, I haven’t been too open to finding love in the traditional sense.

There are so many ways to experience love in this life and I’m going to discover which ways are best for me on my own timeline.

If this is the case, do I really need to spend so much time and effort searching for love from someone else when the most valuable love I may ever find in my life already exists within?

I’ve prioritized finding love of self first as an adult because I struggled immensely with this as a child.

While I admit the journey to loving myself has not been an easy one, it’s not supposed to be and I’m convinced every moment thus far has been worthwhile.

At times I’ve felt lonely and lost and there have been many dark days. But along the way, I’ve experinced equally beautiful and rewarding moments.

Even though I was unable to find my love of self right away, it has been here inside of me the whole time. It always has been and always will be.

So today has been all about declaring and celebrating my love of self to the fullest.

I start everyday by loving myself, and today was no exception. I've been able to partake in a number of activities that bring me great joy like exploring the natural world and dying my hair another color of the rainbow.

I also spent a lot of time looking inward, reflecting on how much I’ve changed and grown lately.

By choosing myself first every day, this practice gives me the strength I need to love others as I move about the world.

I’m reminded of this sentiment every day by my very first tattoo. Just a few months after becoming a legal adult, I requested the image of three little people attached to a heart to be drawn in ink on my left middle finger.

At first sight, most assume that these people are a family (which they are in a sense.) But I’m not depicting the traditional type of family one might expect.

First and foremost, these three people represent me, myself, and I. But once I feel confident in my love of self, those people transform into everyone else.

Therefore, because I love myself, I am able to love everyone and everything else in this world.

Over time, I’ve learned numerous ways to practice loving myself consistently and now I’m better able to give and receive the love I deserve in this world.

Though I have not yet experienced long-term love in the romantic sense many strive for, there are so many ways I’ve been able to love and be loved in this lifetime and for that I am grateful.

I am so grateful for all the bonds I’ve made and will continue to create as time goes on. From my true friends and family to my community and to myself, I am so grateful for all this love.

At the end of the day, I am open to love in all its forms. Yet no one will ever love me better than I love myself, and the same goes for everyone else.

It's been said many times before that there is someone out there for all of us. But should this be interpreted a different way?

What if that someone does exist, but we’ve actually known them all along? That someone is us. It always has been.

I believe we all deserve love today, and every day for that matter. So whether you’re single, searching, or deeply in love with someone else — I hope you experienced a day filled with love in whatever form suits you best.