LOVED.

Let’s talk about LOVE today…it’s Valentine’s Day after all…and I’m convinced that we can make this holiday more than another reason to run to the store and stock up on cards and chocolates.

Don’t get me wrong…I love a good reason to let those around me know I love them…I just wonder if we can dig a little deeper for ourselves and find a moment in a day celebrating love to think about where we fit in that equation.

How we conjure up a little bit of loving ourselves exactly where we are – as we are. 

I’m not talking about a kind of self-love where we think about ourselves nonstop, or where we gaze into a mirror and admire our reflection for hours. I’m actually not even talking about taking time to pamper ourselves (although I’m all in for that too). 

I’m talking about the kind of love that comes from knowing who we are and believing ourselves as worthy of love no matter what.  

Somewhere along the way, many of us get caught up in a belief that we need to earn being loved and worthy. What I hope we can do today is outrightly dismiss this thinking and find a new way. 

We cannot live our dreams and love those around us as well as we want to if we don’t give ourselves the abundance of love available to us regardless of what we pull off in our lives. 

The notion that perfecting and performing relate to what we are worthy of owning for ourselves, that we are loved no matter what, is an easy trap to fall into, but one that gets us stuck and limits our potential. There was a time when I let this hustle spin me into a groundhog’s day of working, working, working under the sub-conscious assumption that if I got everything in my life running “perfectly,” I’d feel more love in my life. But…

I was confusing the high of accomplishment with the actual fulfillment of a love for me that was outside of anything I did. 

In the end, I realized if I kept on that track, I’d never fully connect to a life marked by love, where I could dare to believe in who I am and the potential of the life I’ve been given. Instead, I asked myself these questions:

~Could I only have a life I loved if I earned it? NO!

~Could I only drive towards my passions and purpose if I perfected the tasks I already had? NO!

~Was I worthy of being loved and reaching for more no matter what I did? YES!

I had to recognize that I couldn’t live a life I loved until I started owning my own loveliness and worthiness. A life marked by love – not by hustle. 

We all are loved right now, at this exact moment, no matter what we do today. And we are all worthy of listening to what our hearts are calling us to, at this exact moment, no matter what we do today.

Love allows us to believe in ourselves and the potential in our lives – that’s the kind of self-love that challenges us to simply be ourselves - full and whole. And that is my Valentine’s wish for us all today!