I always thought of self love as a destination. A point that I would reach and never have to work on again. Picture with me, a long and grueling journey with the end point being a beautiful oasis filled with everything you could ever need. You would never have to leave or go anywhere again. That pretty much sums up what I imagined.

As I consciously set down this path for self love I realized just how wrong I was. Self love, like many other self exploration and discovery journeys, is all about the path itself. There is no destination to be reached, no stopping point, no end. Self love has many intertwined aspects to it. Self growth (aka personal development), self care, and accepting everything in between about your body and soul? Those are all just parts of the journey. I can promise you this, you will fall back. Some days you may look at yourself and realize you somehow ended up miles back from where you were yesterday. But even more important, I can promise you that if you have your heart set on something… you are unstoppable.

You can exceed the amount of love for yourself that you thought was possible no matter how far back you have found yourself. I came to this realization that self love is not a destination a couple months back. I found myself actively pursuing self love and acceptance. I realized that if I wanted to become the parent, spouse, friend, and ultimately person that I aim to be, I would have to practice what I preach.

My journey with my body and soul is a messy one. I have had and will continue to have many demons to battle, I understand that. It will only make the beautiful stretches of the journey more special.

As I continued pursuing these things, I realized that self love is more than just one little puzzle piece. You will need to walk a different path for every aspect about yourself. As you change, that path changes, you never get to the end because there isn’t one. At first, if you are anything like me, it may feel discouraging, but I urge you to change your perspective. I hope you can see the beauty in this journey. You get the opportunity to better yourself, your entire life.

Who doesn’t want that?

The power is not only within the knowledge that this will be an ongoing journey, but the ability to always be conscious about the steps you are taking. I aim to actively be a beacon of light and love at all times and I hope you do as well. The world needs all the light it can get.