Hello My Sisters!
January has come and gone. I am so looking forward to February. This month is all about the Pampering of YOU! Can I get a WOOT! WOOT!? Along with the pampering, this is the month to share LOVE. LOVE for others, but most importantly, LOVE for you! To some, this may sound selfish.
Let’s take a minute and look at self-love. I view LOVE as a complete circle. LOVE starts and ends with me. If I practice unconditional LOVE towards myself, it will spread to those in my inner circle, my extended relationships, and even my casual encounters. I am the catalyst for the LOVE that I want to see and feel around me.
We all know people who are “hard to love”. Maybe it is in their attitude or their approach to people, or the tone in which they speak. These people seem hard to approach. They can come across as mad at the whole world. These are the people that you say “good morning” to and their answer is “what’s good about it”. We all know someone like this. Maybe this used to be you.
When I was in my 20’s I was determined to be a ‘badass’ in the worse possible way. I was mean and unfriendly. I didn’t like myself, therefore I didn’t like anyone else. I did this on purpose. I had determined the best way for me to protect myself from hurt, disappointment, and selfish people was to wrap myself in a cloak of anger, judgment, and hostility. I was tired of my kindness being taken for weakness. I built a wall with razor wire and guard dogs and “Keep Out” signs. My “storm the castle, take no prisoners attitude” was harmful in more ways than one. I heard someone say instead of building walls, build fences that way you can see the people you want in your life. Walls keep everybody out!
A few years later, I realized if I wanted to be happy and loved it depended on me. I purposely began to look for ways to pamper and show myself, LOVE. My mom used to always tell me to smile, so I started with that. Whenever I would catch myself looking like I had sucked lemons, I would just smile. I extended myself in situations that I would grumble and complain about. I began to look for opportunities to put myself out there. I began to find ways to show Via that I am lovable and loving. 🥰
The magic came for me in, little ways. Pampering ways. I love bubble baths, so I would take one every day after work. That led me to my love of candles, so I invested in candles and burned them on the weekends.
I found a love for jazz music and reading poetry. It felt odd, and strange to do these things simply because I liked them. These became my Magic Moments. The things that moved me from isolation to a celebration. I began to look at the awesome-ness of ME! I was able to LOVE and invite LOVE because I was loving myself. I no longer do bubble baths, my knees won’t let me. I replaced bubbles with a massage chair and a fuzzy blanket. I make it a habit to create space for me to LOVE Via.
I encourage all my beautiful, loving sisters to invest in you. You are worth every act of LOVE you show yourself. When we begin to appreciate the wonderful women that we are, our circle of LOVE expands and we receive so much LOVE in return.
I am glad that I did not stay angry and bitter. I am thankful that I found the loving, caring, compassionate, strong woman that I was always meant to become. Minnie Riperton had a song titled “Loving You”. That is my theme song for February. Loving You and Loving Me. Let’s do our part to LOVE.
Remember, you can always call your sister 💕
