All You Need Is (self) Love

Hello all, hope you are all having a marvellous week. This week I decided to try out a different type of blog post, centred on a topic that affects our lives day in and day out. Self love, self confidence and self reliance are all life skills that appear ideal in what they describe. To love ourselves completely equals boundless happiness and success, right? Well, these life skills are all important, but they sometimes appear as if things that we can only acquire over time and with experience. The world we live in today arguably can make things more difficult, with some people never acquiring these skills whilst others face great difficulty in trying to acquire them. As a 19 (almost 20) year old young woman, it has recently come to my attention in the last few months where I have faced difficulties within my personal life, just how beneficial and in many ways, vital, it has been for me to acquire a sense of self love and self reliance to get me through and solve these difficulties.

So, at the age of 19, what have I learnt so far?

1. don't expect praise or support from anyone; learn to praise yourself and recognise your own achievements no matter how small they may seem
2. realise your talents and skills and don't be afraid to celebrate them
3. understand that life is for living, not for observing so if you want to do something, go out and do it
4. don't rely on friends or acquaintances for company all the time
5. don't be fearful to go alone
6. don't be fearful to raise your voice and stick up for yourself. Stay polite but don't be a doormat
7. learn to look at experiences in your past for what they actually were, not what they seemed at the time, and learn from them
8. appreciate your own beauty and qualities without comparing to others, or discrediting others
9. don't let a lack of approval put you off something you are passionate about, if it makes you happy and you're doing it for the right reasons, keep going
10. appreciate and love those that are consistently there for you
11. don't feel obliged to hold on to anybody, any job, any hobby or any item that no longer makes you happy, satisfys you, challenges you or is going to guide you towards your future