College has been an extremely transformative time for me, giving me the opportunity for lots of introspection. Before college, I had absolutely no idea who I was, and I even felt that way for the vast majority of college too. With the hustle and bustle of school life, it’s extremely easy to lose sight of who you are and who you wish to be. With seemingly endless classes, extracurricular and social activities, and even personal responsibilities, the dark waters of college seem to engulf every part of you, leaving little to no room for genuine you time.
Learning to fall in love with my energy has been one of the best parts of my college experience. It’s a transformative journey that has led me to feel even more fulfilled, despite not changing my lifestyle much.
My self-love expedition, like many things, began with admitting to myself that I was constantly striving to meet others’ expectations. Whether it was my family, professors, or other students, I wanted them to see me as a success. While it’s never a bad thing to excel in your classes or be involved, I was doing it for the completely wrong reasons, and that ultimately led me to neglect my well-being. I wasn’t allowing my true self to flourish.
One of the biggest breakthroughs of my journey was realizing that my energy was the most interesting part of me. I am not my body, I am not my voice, and I am not my actions. The energy I am made of and put out is what defines me, and I decided to make that energy radiant. Central to falling in love with my energy has been these five actions.
- spending time with myself
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Being able to get some alone time has allowed me to truly reach deep into my mind and understand myself to a new extent. Whether this was simply reading a book in my room or going on an adventure, I made sure to do things that were just for me.
- setting boundaries
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I’ll be honest, I’m definitely still working on this one. It’s extremely important for me to be able to set boundaries and not just do what others want me to do. This step allows me to stop doing things that drain me, and instead do things that give me happiness.
- not being afraid to embarrass myself
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I started practicing this back in high school and it has been one of the biggest contributors to my self-love. One of the biggest things that has ever held me back was the fear of being embarrassed, and once I started to get out of that mindset, I began to do things that made me happy. I dressed up as a crazy mustache guy for Halloween and learned to express all of my feelings, no matter how humiliating.
- embrace my imperfections
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This one was a tough one to conquer. The thing that ultimately led me to accept my imperfections was one quote: “Every feature of yours is proof that it has been loved.” Generations and generations of people have fallen in love with every part of your body and self. All those that have come before you have had your nose, lips, and thighs. The fact that you are here shows that every part of you has the ability to be loved.
- surrounding myself with positivity
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This step has also been crucial to my self-love journey. Being around positive people and positive things forces me to be positive myself. I know that without the positivity I surround myself with every day, I would be a lot more critical of myself. I truly believe that people love to be positive; everyone just needs an outlet to do it.
While I have made massive progress in falling in love with my energy, it’s something I have to focus on every day. There is no destination, and I will continue to learn how to love myself more every single day.
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