THIS VALENTINE'S DAY.................

Oscar Wild: “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.”

It probably takes a life time to realize the effects of not loving yourself enough. The journey may have been of applaudable sacrifices but in the end you could be left with the realization that it could have been made better only if you had loved yourself.

This Valentine’s Day buy a rose for yourself and clip a note to it saying, ‘I love you’. Tell yourself that you are beautiful; whatever shape, size or colour you wear. You have loved others enough; of course don’t stop loving them but add one more member to your circle of the affectionate – yourself. Experience has taught many that loving others can get painful if you have no time to love yourself. Loving others gets easy when you begin to pay attention to yourself.

Some people say that they loved till it hurt. This could be very true because they didn’t pay any attention to themselves. They loved so much that they depleted their self-worth. Even when they were not loved in return, they continued to love. They tolerated nonsense because they didn’t add self worth to themselves. The world taught them that it was anyway not the right thing to do. But someday a dawn broke through the darkness of the night and they then saw in the light of a new perspective that though they had come a long way, the pathway of return did exist.

This Valentine’s Day, please try to understand that the Atlas is just a book and you don’t have to allow the physical geographical landforms around you, to build mountains you can’t overcome. You don’t have to force yourself to carry the load of your world on your emotional shoulders.  You have carried bags full of love and distributed enormous packets of concern and care to your family and friends for quite some time; now save some for yourself. 

You could begin by giving yourself a few generous compliments from time to time. You could try walking towards those who love you in return and practice running away from those who care two hoots for you. If someone treats you like a doormat, scream and shout loud so that they lay off their stinking socked mouths from you. Not others, but you are responsible for your happiness. So exercise your responsibility towards yourself.

A gentle reminder – buy YOURSELF a gift of love this Valentine’s Day.

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