Self-love is a work of art in progress.

It’s a one step at a time process that sometimes gets looked at from the outside as something sad or lonely. Loving yourself takes time. Be patient.

Self. Love. Isn’t. Sad.

Have you ever looked at someone out alone and felt sorry for them?

Have you ever read a post on social media where someone was admittedly working on themselves, offering up a piece of realness, and admitting that she’s not perfect, did you get a sense of “aw” with a side of puppy eyes?

Did you ever stop and think–maybe they needed a breather, maybe they enjoy time alone…what a strange concept…maybe they are being brave sharing their journey so that others join in and feel less lonely, feel that it’s okay to spend time with the most important person in their lives–themselves.

Hear me out.

Contrary to popular belief, self-love isn’t a sad thing. Sure you might shed a few tears in your self-love journey, but it’s healing. You might be alone sometimes, but you’ll be growing.

What’s sad about self-love, is not practicing self-love.

I think there’s this stigma about self-love that it’s selfish or weird. I think the truth is we spend a lot of time trying to love other people that we don’t know where to even start with ourselves. And guess what, that is totally okay. There isn’t a book or manual about this sort of thing…yet 😉 but there should be. Don’t worry, I got you, there will be.

But in the meantime, don’t be afraid to practice self-love. Don’t be afraid to talk about it to others. To ask questions! You might be inspiring someone else to try it out and discover how amazing they are.

When we practice self-love, we are investing in ourselves.

We are working on becoming the best version of us we can be. And believe me, when you start to watch yourself bloom it won’t be sad or pathetic, it will be one of the loveliest things you will ever witness.  

You are worthy of love. The greatest form of love you can give is to yourself. When you love yourself, you understand the world better, you are supercharged so you can love others more.

So grab a box of tissues love, if you want to. The only sadness around here should be tears of healing or tears of breakthrough. Water your garden and watch it grow.

We need to do a better job of telling each other it’s okay to spend time alone and do the things you’ve always wanted to do. That it’s okay to heal the things you need to in order to move on. These moments all essential for a lovely life worth living.