Roald Dahl once said, "I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good."
As I've been thinking about this, I also recognize just how important it is that we take that same intensity about life and turn it towards deeply loving ourselves.
Each of us are on a journey to discover who we truly are down to our core. There are a million distractions, diversions and pitfalls on the path that can throw us into a multitude of different situations.
Some will cast you off your course for a moment. Others will take a lifetime to come back from. But if we all follow that deep whisper within our hearts telling us which way to go, we will find our way back home.
The way back isn't through judgement. I remember one of my teachers a few years back saying, "Life is hard enough. Don't make it worse." And that's what judgement does. It makes everything that's already challenging 100x worse.
Loving yourself isn't just about affirmations, slogans and self care activities. It goes far deeper than that. It's about offering yourself things like grace, compassion, kindness in the face of our greatest challenges.
It's about recognizing the toxic language of the inner critic, acknowledging it's existence, silencing it and moving forward in a way that truly serves you. It's about stepping into the deepest wisest version of yourself and letting that voice run the show.
The love we give to others is something incredibly special. Relationships bring so much depth to our lives it's impossible to even describe. People come into our lives and impact us in ways that go far beyond our own understanding. They are even there for us in moments where we feel like we can't continue on.
But nothing will ever be able to replace the relationship you have with yourself. That relationship (and the one with what you believe in) is what will define your entire life. So make sure you're writing the story in a way that you can be proud of.
And be kind, always.