Day 30/31 of Self Love

Read this post for an explanation!

My Definition of Self Love - Learning not to hate yourself; being okay with past mistakes, but not repeating them; refusing to use current failures as fuel for self-hate and instead using them as opportunities to improve; and reminding yourself, "You are loved, you are valuable, and you are God's child."

 

• Christian - This is the most important "label" of all, and the only one that should ever truly define me.
• Wifey - One of my favorite things about myself is that I'm the wife of my high school sweetheart and best friend. Again, any label (whether positive or negative) can have a negative effect if it becomes our sole identity, but knowing that I am a child of God and the wife of this pretty handsome guy can make me pretty happy.

• Writer - I have always loved creating stories, and even though I don't have much time for it anymore, writing will always be my first love. Whenever I learn something new about the Bible, psychology, myself, or humanity, I always think, "How can I add this into my novel?" I'm currently brainstorming for a new novel that will definitely include elements of anxiety, depression, and mental health in a nontraditional way.
• Sad - I tell my closest friends, "I'm sad" a lot because it's a way to express my emotions and let them know that I'm not having the best day without going into great detail. However, I have to be really careful not to let this emotion become a defining part of me - it may be the way I feel sometimes, but it is not who I intrinsically am.
• Artist - I enjoy drawing, hand lettering, painting, singing, playing piano, and playing guitar - I'll just group all of these into "artist" because it's how I express myself if I'm not writing. 
• Coffee Lover - this one's ridiculous because I don't even like coffee unless it is 40% creamer and 20% sugar. I added this one, though, so you could see how something can quickly become part of someone's "image" even if they don't like it that much.
• Nerd - I am a nerd, but not in the way I usually portray myself. I act hyper and talk about anime because I think it makes me look like a cute nerd girl, but in actuality I am a nerd over the fact that Tumblr often portrays the character of Dear Evan Hansen's Connor Murphy incorrectly; that I wish they'd make a live action movie of A Tale of Two Cities; that Jared and Claudia should've ended up together in Sapphique (a steampunk book); and that many novels break grammatical rules. But see, that's not very cute and nerdy, that's just...nerdy.
• Complicated - I like to think that I am too complex, complicated, and broken to be known or loved. But the truth is, I'm about the same as everyone else - every person on this planet is a little or a lot messed up, and everyone needs help, in one way or another. One of my favorite artists has a line in their song Emphasis that says, "Life is a gorgeous, broken gift; six billion pieces waiting to be fixed." No one is too broken to be saved, and no one is too lost to be found. Everyone's a little complicated, sure, but no one's so complicated that they can't be loved.

If you want to read more about labels, you can check out this blog post from a few months ago.

Also, Happy Valentine's Day! I happen to love this day (even when I was single) because I'm a hopeless romantic and also incredibly cheesy. But even if you don't really care for a holiday that seems like it's only for couples, I want to tell you that I love you and if I could give you a box of chocolates, I would.