The Only Love You Need

The greatest love you can have is the one that is inside you.

I love this saying.  I have always heard it, but never fully believed it, like many in our dependent society today.

However, two weeks ago my sister was doing a survey for a health class of hers at IIN and she asked me…

At what point in your life have you felt your happiest?

I reflected for a minute and thought…

You know what – I don’t ever remember being as happy and secure with my life as I feel right now.

You may remember from posts like this, this, and this that I found myself in an unhealthy relationship and felt stuck. I didn’t communicate with my family on my feelings, and I his my real thoughts on the relationship from everyone including myself.  I was so focused on the future that I wasn’t living. In other words, I wasn’t practicing what I preach.

Often times, we feel so low in our lives and we don’t remember the last time we felt happy. We have NO idea how we got to such a point, and we don’t know where to go next. This had been everything I was feeling.

But then, once I had reflected on what I was going through, something awesome happened. I had my driven attitude back!  I was going to choose to be happy. I began my 30 Day series, I went skydiving, I decided to finally sign up and conquer my first half marathon, and I sent myself even further out of my comfort zone by attending Fitbloggin‘ and following my passion.

Did I initially believe I would be happy again?

I felt I would one day, but I didn’t think it would only require a few month time span. Not that I’m complaining .

The reality is that people come in and out of our lives, and there is a reason that they were there in the first place, whether you know that reason right now or not. Sometimes we have to have faith that the right people – whether a friend, a family member, or a significant other – will stay in our lives if they’re meant to and fully accept us.  Meaning, they know we’re awesome, too .

That was a tiny tangent, but basically, it took me losing someone special to open my eyes and realize that I hadn’t been happy for a long time. My Alyssa friend said to me the one day…

Remember when you used to say ‘I love my life’? You need to get back to that.

The moment she was referring to had been exactly three years ago this fall. That is too long to not be content with your life.

Now, I am back better than ever! Every person should think know they are awesome. We need to love ourselves and enjoy spending time with ourselves – not worrying about the outside world – if we ever want someone else to love us that much.

I titled this post the way I did because at this point in time, I really feel that I’m in an amazing place in my life and doing great things for myself (AKA being selfish ), that any rude comments from outsiders or any loss of a friendship or relationship – I will still be completely happy because I love myself and don’t want to be anyone else. Like that Gavin Degraw song . But everyone should feel this way – it’s empowering!

That’s not to say get egotistical, but just stay confident and true to who you are.  Satisfy yourself before anyone else, and if a negative personality is offsetting your balance, lean away from that person.  Like I said – it’s a choice.

Have you ever felt you had a turning point that had an unexpected affect on you?

Tagged as: confidence, happiness, self esteem, self love