February: Love Yourself

February is the month to celebrate love and in honor of that I am putting all my efforts into loving myself.

I'm just so selfless in that way.

At work, I created the Love Yourself Challenge, where we are pouring into our own selves. I truly believe, way down deep in this heart of mine, that you cannot effectively love others if you do not love yourself. Boom. Truth bomb dropped right there.

More importantly, I believe that there is a healthy way to love yourself and an unhealthy way to love yourself. Healthy ways include eating right, being active, caring for your body, caring for your soul, encouraging mental health and emotional health. Unhealthy ways of loving yourself include: changing yourself so others love you, putting any effort into being what you are not, eating to feel fulfilled, drinking to feel fulfilled, engaging in sexual activity to feel loved, chasing the thrill of a new pair of shoes, a pedicure, a procedure to feel better about yourself.

I think you ought not to do any of those unhealthy activities to love yourself before you do all the healthy ways. Getting a pedicure in itself is not unhealthy. Getting a pedicure to make you feel better about your weight is unhealthy. Purchasing a new pair of shoes (hello, Jimmy Choo??) is not unhealthy. Purchasing a new pair of shoes to make you feel better about being dumped is unhealthy. Going out on a Friday, getting drunk and hooking up with a guy because you hate your job is unhealthy.

It's not the task itself that we must worry about, it is the intent or motivation behind that task that can cause trouble. It makes perfect sense right?

This month, I have roped 14 coworkers into eating clean, exercising and by proxy losing weight. We are going to love ourselves enough to eat right. To get active. To shed the weight our bodies have been carrying.

On top of that I am going to pour into myself this month. I'm going to read books that rebuild me emotionally. I'm going to wash the make-up off my face every night before bed. I'm going to do my hair more. I'm going to shave my legs more. I'm going to encourage myself to try new things. I'm going to surround myself with people that uplift me. I'm going to let others connect to me and try to connect to others more.

This month I am going to funnel good things into myself so that I can, in turn, pour that into my family and the people I am surrounded by on a daily basis. My circle of reference, if you will.

My goal is to embrace all things good, ya know, along with the crazy. ;)

I'm really excited for this month.