Love yourself

Octavia Tsibes
Merapelo Mosarwa

Life is a journey of self-discovery. To me, to be enlightened is to go within and know who and what we really are, and to know that we have the ability to change for better by loving and taking care of ourselves. It’s not selfish to love ourselves. It clears us so that we can love ourselves enough to love other people. When people start to love themselves more each day, it’s amazing how their lives get better. They feel better, they need no validation from anyone- but God himself, they are very confident and their relationships begin to improve or the negative relationships begin to dissolve and new ones begin to blossom.

To me, love is a deep appreciation. When I talk about loving ourselves, I mean having a deep appreciation for who we are. I mean accepting all the different parts of ourselves- our little peculiarities, embarrassments, the things we may not do well in, and all the wonderful qualities we have too.

Unfortunately, many of us will not love ourselves until we get that model size figure/six pack, get the girl/boy we’ve been eyeing or whatever it may be. It is as if we put conditions on our love. This can CHANGE. We can start loving ourselves right now. We are that ‘individual’ we are seeking validation from. We are the power we have been in search for. Loving ourselves is something we can choose, the same way we choose to be angry, sad or hate someone (not recommending this, lol). It’s always a choice within us.

If you’re not willing to love yourself today, then you are not going to love yourself tomorrow, because whatever excuse you have today, you’ll still have tomorrow, 25 years from here or God forbid a lifetime- holding on to the same excuse.

In conclusion, here are the steps we may take to love ourselves. You need to get rid of the negative influences in your life, take time to do things you want to do, be active, compliment yourself and know that you are special and nobody else is like you.

*Merapelo Mosarwa is 18 years old. I aspire to become a journalist, hoping to spread positivity everywhere and anywhere. She can found on Instagram @wuuu.mera and on Facebook: Mera D Mosarwa