Self-love. 

Those two words are thrown around so much in the world today, it’s everywhere. It’s on social media, tv shows, movies — shall I keep going? 

Anyways, who truly understands the meaning behind self-love. Please be honest here. 

Whenever I look in the mirror I see a different version of myself than what others see. I see all my imperfections, while they may be a figment of my own imagination, it’s all I can see. 

I’ll admit that I don’t love myself 90% of the time. So maybe this isn’t the right topic for me to be speaking on but I think self-love is important. 

The first person you should love is yourself. But how does someone love themselves? At the end of the day, we are our worst critics. 

Maybe the first step is staying away from social media because I will be the first to admit that I compare myself to all these other women who look 10 times better than me. 

Or maybe the first step is learning to give yourself compliments. Instead of looking in the mirror and telling yourself something negative, turn it around and tell yourself that you look bomb. 

See? I’m not very good at this. I have to learn to love myself first before giving advice or I just need to take my own advice. 

Today is day one. 

Starting today I will start to take my own advice. Now you don’t have to follow in my footsteps, but if you do, I hope this helps. 

Every time you get out of the shower and look at yourself in the mirror, completely naked, give yourself three compliments. 

I’ll start. 

Samantha Geiger, you are beautiful. 

You have nice hair. 

You have a nice smile. 

While those were surface-level compliments and I cringed after saying each one, I know it’ll make a difference in how I view myself one day. 

It takes 18 days to form a habit. If we can compliment ourselves every day for the next 18 days, maybe we can understand what self-love is. 

Do something that is going to make you love yourself just a little bit more. 

Stop allowing yourself to see only the imperfections — I know, it’s easier said than done.

In high school, I was surrounded by these people who belittled me every chance they got because they thought they were all high and mighty. In reality, they all peaked in high school — yikes, did I just say that?

Maybe that’s where my self-hatred issues started. I was constantly reminded that I wasn’t pretty enough, smart enough or good enough for anything. 

Or maybe it was my friend’s mom who went around telling other adults that I was never smart enough to make it into college and I was never going to make something of myself. Mind you, I was about six when this started and she kept on running her mouth until I was a senior in high school.

An adult. A full-grown married adult bullied me. Isn’t that messed up?

It’s my time to shine now, it’s my time to start loving myself the way I should. It’s time for me to make a change in my own life. 

I won’t do it alone though, so all those who want to join the self-love journey with me, let’s talk. Let’s do this together. 

Geiger can be reached at [email protected]