Self-love isn’t something you learn through books, it’s something you cultivate. It isn’t just looking in the mirror and saying “I love you”, it goes deeper than that. While it appears to be a difficult journey, once the objective of loving yourself is reached there’s no going back.

Is there such a thing as true-self love? Yes, true-self love is an unconditional feeling of love, acceptance, and appreciation for yourself. In other words, no matter how you look like or what you do, you always love yourself with the same strength. The love you feel doesn’t wither, or second guess it’s self, it’s there to stay.

” In my opinion, self-love is accepting who you are inside and not letting other people’s perspective of you change the opinion you have of yourself. Without self-love your mentality and confidence will suffer. There’s people that care too much about what others think, and they let the pressure of being “perfect” get to them. Everyone is perfect in their own way. While searching for self-love, there will be doubt,” sophomore Kimmy Nguyen said.

” In order to love others, you must first love yourself. By loving yourself you learn to know your worth and accept who you are inside and what you look like on the outside. I think that when you reach true self-love you become one of the happiest people on Earth,” sophomore Anahi Palacios said.

How can self-love be reached? While there are many ways to cultivate love towards your persona, thinking, doing, and feeling self-love are the stepping stones to a lasting source of love. Our thoughts precede our behaviors and emotions, therefore one should start by practicing daily affirmations such as “I deserve to be happy”, “I am worthy of love”. Although it might seem cheesy at first, reciting such mantras encourage self-compassion and it allows you to be good to yourself. Aside from that, positive self-talk is also crucial part, for there isn’t a better cheerleader for you than yourself. Our actions shape who you are. Instead of saving a healthy meal for tomorrow,  take the time to prepare it and enjoy it. Take care of yourself with love and care. Put yourself together, dress up, try new things so that you feel like the beautiful person you are. Feel what loving yourself feels like. Release the stress you’ve had all week, relax your body, take care of yourself. Visit a spa, give yourself a message, and most importantly know you are worth extraordinary care.

Self-love is a journey. It isn’t something you’ll wake up having the next day. It takes time, dedication, practice, and perseverance. Don’t let your inner voice keep you from giving yourself the love you deserve.  Resolve to love yourself each and every day. Although, you might fall a couple of times and think of giving up, remember that it’s a process. Instead of giving yourself a hard time, allow the best version of yourself to blossom and the love for yourself unfold.