You’ve been thinking long and hard about what to publish today. As a blog dedicated to love and marriage there’s a certain amount of extra pressure on Valentine’s Day. There’s so much expectation about what you might write about. Do you share a Valentine’s themed photo shoot? Do you write a love letter to your husband (again!)? Do you publish one of the thousands of press releases you’ve been bombarded with from companies who want to sell your readers flowers and chocolates and extravagant gifts? Do you just skip it all together!?
You were lying in a rose-scented bath the other day, thinking about this and looking down at your squishy belly, simultaneously wishing your body looked different. You starting thinking “I wonder how much happier I’d be if I looked more like those #fitspo girls on Instagram?”
And then it hit you.
Valentine’s shouldn’t just be about expressing love for others, it needs to be about expressing some love for yourself as well.
You’ve struggled with loving yourself for as long as you can remember. You might be extroverted and seem confident about most things on the outside, but I know that internally you’re constantly criticising yourself. The way you look, the way you act, the things you say… not pretty enough, not thin enough, not smart enough, not cool enough…
Today I want to tell you to give yourself a break. You’re ROCKING this thing called life. Your business helps so many women realise their true beauty and how awesome they really are. You give them permission to embrace their weirdness and just be themselves. You tell them to never conform and to be happy with who they are. You need to do this for yourself too!
You tentatively started to go to the gym last week, and I’m SO PROUD OF YOU I COULD BURST. I know you’ve been putting it off for years and that you were actually so terrified of going that you just pretended you didn’t care. “I feel fine”, you said, “I like being in front of my computer all day. I don’t need to exercise, I’ll just eat less.” Gareth tried to encourage you that it wasn’t about trying to be thinner, but it would just make you feel good. But you were still so scared – scared of looking stupid, scared of failing, scared of giving up. But you did it, and better still, you actually enjoyed it. Keep going girl!
You need to treat yourself more kindly, You need to realise how amazing you really are. You need to show yourself as much love and compassion as you show other people.
Happy Valentine’s Day, You’re the most important person in my life and I love you. I’m just sorry I don’t say it enough.
