It’s almost Valentines. Everyone has their own opinion on the holiday. I’ve shifted my views throughout the years but one thing stays the same… I love love and I love big. I also just love holidays. An excuse to celebrate (even if it’s rooted in the sacrificing of goats)… count me in!

Valentines Day can be about whatever love that calls you. It doesn’t have to be about romantic love or only about romantic love. Use the day as a reminder to tell everyone you love them. Humans don’t do that enough, even though we all need it. We can all agree that Valentines has come a long way from sacrificing goats in hopes of increasing fertility, to paying homage to a Saint who wrote a love letter while imprisoned, to the total commercialization of the holiday. America!

While doing some serious work on my self worth the past six months, Valentines this year prompted this thought…. self love may be the most important love. It may also be the hardest love to accept. Love from yourself. But after many empty battery days, weeks, years, I’ve had… loving myself fills my cup.

It has nothing to do with the ego, if anything, it’s self care to the highest degree.

While I have love notes queued up to send out this week, the one to myself makes the others feel even more important.

Hey you,

I’m really proud of how far you’ve come and all that you’ve endured. You are a bright light to those babies you are raising. Keep showing them how to love AND how to be loved. They are the greatest gifts and you’re doing such a great job at handling them with care and fostering the relationship with you they deserve. Continue to show yourself grace and gratitude. Never stop laying the bricks, even when it’s one by one. You are building something truly beautiful. Progress over perfection really shows. Lean into the soft because growth and joy and laughter are what live there. Love you through the grief and through the messy. Love that winky eye. Love yourself for living this most authentic life.

Love you mean it,

Me