Julio's Musings

It’s Valentine’s Day. It’s a day to share with your significant other the love you have for one another. Obviously, you shouldn’t need a day just to show your love for someone; its something you should always be doing. The existence of the day never bothered me, though. The romantic in me thinks the whole experience can be sweet.

So what is Valentine’s Day like for those without a significant other? For some, it’s a reminder of something they don’t currently have. For others, it’s a reminder of things they’ve lost. It’s a day of lost love, unrequited love, and love that is just not meant to be. In other words, it can be kind of a sad day (well, except for those lucky singles who feel nothing when Valentine’s Day comes).

The last time I was in love, it didn’t end in a good way. I have a good deal of fault, she has a good deal of fault, and ultimately the love was just not meant to be. It happens to just about everyone at some point.

What I’ve learned since then is that the most important person for you to love is yourself. I know this is obvious to most people, but I’m pretty sure I hated myself a lot at that time. Once I started to let go of that hate and started to love myself more, I was actually able to love everyone else more. So feeling more love inside lets you show more love outside…what a concept, huh? 😉

I spent time with Lauren on Saturday and she said something that got me thinking a little bit. We were discussing various topics and at some point I just started going off and I was angry about whatever topic we were on at that moment. She then made the comment that she had never really seen me express anger like that before. It wasn’t a super loud or violent type anger. It was just an expressive anger. I thought on it and realized the difference is my lack of hatred towards myself. Hating myself caused me to hide these types of emotions in fear that they would give others reasons to hate me too. I have better control of my emotions and how I express them and I don’t feel a need to try and hide them (which never goes well and really just doesn’t work). The funny thing is, even though we were talking about stuff that made us mad, we still had a great time.

Loving yourself is important because it helps everything else fall into place. For me, it means I’m finally in a place where I feel confident in my ability to fulfill my ambitions. It means I’m generally okay with being single right now. Even though some of us are single, it won’t always be that way. In the meantime, this Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be “Single’s Awareness Day.” Treat yourself to something nice, go out with your friends, spend time with your family, and soak in all the other types of love you have around you.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my family and friends. I love you all!