In this society, it’s easy to find reasons to not love yourself. At SCAD, I am surrounded by beautiful and unique individuals, many of which don’t know their worth. It is very disheartening to see my peers put themselves down, so here are a just a few of the many reasons why it is important to love yourself.
1. You are the Only You. Yes, we’ve heard this many times but it’s true. There is nobody else in the world with the same mind, opinions, thoughts, laugh, or physical appearance as you. You are special and unique, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Embrace the reasons that set you apart from the crowd. Accept yourself, and accept the people around you. After all, Dr. Seuss said it best, “today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”
Sketch by Isabelle Gaije Doucette
2. Love Yourself Before You Let Anyone Else. Get to know yourself before you love someone. Develop your own habits, your own preferences and dislikes, otherwise you may adapt to your partners. And when it doesn’t work out you will have a hard time figuring out which parts of your personality is yours and which parts you created to please your partner. Lead by example, if you do not love yourself, how can you expect someone else to? It is not your partner’s job to keep you happy and build you up, you should be able to do that yourself.
Sketch by Isabelle Gaije Doucette
3. Be a Living, Breathing Example. We all have family and friends, brothers and sisters, or nieces and nephews. They look up to you and they tend to pick up your behaviors. We need to teach the younger generation to love themselves, and we can do that by being an example. Have you ever heard one of your friends put themselves down? It makes you sad, doesn’t it? If you don’t like seeing your friends do that, then don’t do it to yourself!
Sketch by Isabelle Gaije Doucette
4. Think About What You Might Not Like About Yourself. If you feel like there are reasons why you don’t love yourself, then fix it. And I’m not talking about your stretch marks or any other physical attributes. If you are unhappy with your smoking habits or the way you treat your family, change it. If you feel you are not being the best person you can be, then do something about it. “If you want to kill yourself, kill what you don’t like. I had an old self that I killed. You can kill yourself too, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop living.” Archie’s Final Project, Vargus
Sketch by Isabelle Gaije Doucette
5. HEALTH. Give yourself at least one day a week to take care of yourself. Take a bath, listen to music, do some laundry, and call your mother. I can not express how important this is. Your mental health should be your number one priority. The most important part of self love is taking care of yourself. It will be a thousand times more difficult to do anything else if you’re not catering to your personal needs.
Sketch by Isabelle Gaije Doucette
6. POWER AND STRENGTH. When you love yourself and you are confident, no one can tear you down. It gives you power, strength, confidence and makes you happier overall. Stop comparing yourself to other people. Instead of telling yourself you are not good enough, BE GOOD ENOUGH. When you achieve that type of inner stability and mental health, anything is possible.