It’s that time of year again! (No, not Christmas!) It’s Valentine’s Day! A day dedicated exclusively to LOVE! LOVE! Love! Love! And even more LOVE! And, who doesn’t enjoy the feeling of butterflies storming your stomach, thrashing about, and “fluttering,” your pulse pounding in your temples, and your mouth spewing words about futilely? No... Just me? Well, thats love for ya! And we love love! (aside from the often dreadful yet enjoyable recognizable and odd sensations that come along with it) And while I could sit here and go on a rampage on LOVE and go so far as to write a post on the “15 Valentine’s Day gift ideas to get under $10,” I’m not going to. And frankly, I think you know me better than that. On this Valentine’s Day Post, I’m challenging you to be your own Valentine! And by all means the best one you could ask for! A LITTLE BACKGROUNDValentine’s Day is so much more than expensive restaurants, gourmet meals, chocolate covered hearts, rose bouquets, and fuzzy teddy bears. (Although...I personally prefer milk chocolate and the classic and chic red roses...just a heads up.) But, aside from the gooey chocolate-y goodness that is a Kit Kat, Valentine’s Day continues to transcend the modern consumeristic image often associated with it. At its core Valentine’s Day embodies self-sacrificial love as St. Valentine relentlessly fought and ultimately died for the right of Christian love to be sanctified through marriage. [Hmmm?] This feels far too familiar to me, because thousands of years later we are still fighting for love. And even more so, we are still working towards absolute acceptance of all couples regardless of race, gender, or religion. A HEART TO HEARTFunny enough, as humans, the word LOVE rolls off our tongues so easily, regardless of whom we are addressing it to. But how often do we say that we love ourselves? How often do we acknowledge our own personal beauty? How often do we practice self-love? Personally, I think the problem stems from self esteem. Self esteem And from as early as I can remember, self-confidence was never my greatest strength. And the same can be said for many teenagers in today’s society. The dawn of the digital age has reconfigured the media and its purpose. Nowadays, it broadcasts messages that overtly or subliminally manage to get into our heads. And after endless hours of scrolling through filtered images, crudely exaggerated news, and sensational magazine articles, we find ourselves trapped in a cage of self-validation. To that extent that we start feeling inadequate when we’re not meeting some standard we’ve set for ourselves—or, rather, someone else has set for us. There’s always this picture of striving to be “good enough,” “pretty enough,” “tall enough,” “smart enough,” “skinny enough,” but our underlying motivation to do so is rooted in comparing ourselves with what is being presented to us in the media. And that’s just the bigger picture! There’s also navigating the nuances of the day-to-day that make for a minefield of “do others think that I’m not good enough?” And that idea—of believing in yourself and your worth—is easier said than done. LOVING YOURSELF FIRSTOne thing to consider, however, is that if you base your self worth on the external world, you’ll never truly be capable of self-love. Because your inner critic will always bring about more feelings of negativity in everything that you do, to the point where it almost feels never-ending. But dang girl, take those self directed claws and cut out that little evil voice in your head. She ain’t worth it. Because we are all interconnected and when you learn to love yourself, you can in turn love others. Make everyday your VALENTINE’S DAYBut you must first realize that...
It’s also important to note that everyday is a day for us to continue our execution. Personally, the journey of learning myself and loving myself more each day is a continuous process, but I am much further than I was a few years ago, a few months ago, a few days ago, and more so than I was a few hours ago. Why waste one day, when we have 365 days of endless possibilities. Which gives you ALL the time you need to... Buy yourself those shoes you want, the bouquet of roses you saw at the florist, the blush pink dress you were dying to try on, the new silver earrings you saw on display, and the pandora bracelet glimmering on the store window. Write yourself love letters. Have some chocolate! Eat some delish food (my personal favorite). And most importantly, give yourself all the time you need. Because you SHOULD. Because you deserve it! Because you should treat yourself! Because it makes you happy! Because you CAN! Because you don’t need to wait for someone to buy you the nice things things you covet (nor should you want to), and because you want to treat youself as well as you treat those dearest to you. Because you are your own funny, quirky, loving Valentine! And the best one you could ask for! Happy Valentine’s Day, guys!
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought of this post? And do tell how you are spending your Valentine’s Day? And TGIF! Its been an interesting week, to say the least, and I’m happy to be back! Peep the new buttons and the new and improved site design...again! (YES!!! I’M STILL MAKING UPDATES! Because I want to get it perfect just for you.) And as always leave any suggestions and watch out...Upstart Voix is on its way and it’s coming in HOT! So while enjoying this box of chocolates next to me on behalf of all my readers, I’ll be... Always smiling and beyoutiful,
16 Comments
Lily
2/15/2020 07:27:10 pm
Gurrrrrllllll!
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Lilliana
2/17/2020 10:42:21 am
Y are the graphics in this SOOOO cute & adorable?!
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Eva
2/17/2020 09:32:48 pm
Love the new graphics and such. Also loving the quote “you cannot give what you do not have” because like you mentioned it is so important to love yourself first before you can love another person and do it properly. Very profound.
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Anna
2/22/2020 10:22:40 pm
Self love is the best love!
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Willow
2/22/2020 10:25:09 pm
There is no one else quite like you Tarah girlie! We love a self appreciative queen!
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Kelsey
2/22/2020 10:30:56 pm
“[Hmmm?]
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Hannah
2/22/2020 10:32:06 pm
BEAUTIFUL POST..........YET AGAIN!!!!!
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Gianna
2/22/2020 10:34:40 pm
Another banger from Tarah! I usually don’t comment and just read the amazing stuff you put out, but this was an exception. This is such an important message for not only girls but everyone around the world. You are wise beyond your years girl! Happy to be part of this progressive Upstart fam bam!
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Juliane Lim
2/22/2020 10:37:58 pm
I know this is late and it’s technically almost a week after Valentine’s Day, but —-Sending love and btw I love ALL your content :)
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Lola Honey
2/22/2020 10:40:22 pm
these are the words i so needed to hear today... it really takes time and effort to not be so hard on ourselves.......ALSO I have been loving the updated blog Tarah <3
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Cayla
2/22/2020 10:49:30 pm
Valentine’s Day........I cuddled with my doggie and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and watched To All the Boys 2! Best day ever!
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Taylor
2/22/2020 10:50:33 pm
My BF and I went to dinner for Vday.......we got sushi!
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Mafalda
2/22/2020 10:56:46 pm
Love this. Lots of love, Mafalda (Portugal)
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2/23/2020 12:09:19 am
Always such an inspiration, T!
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Bree
3/17/2020 12:27:00 pm
“ And most importantly, give yourself all the time you need.
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Sonni
5/1/2020 01:24:26 am
Cute post! 💖
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She likes food.
Especially sushi! She loves to write. And she loves to smile! And she’d love it if you could stick around and read the blog! Learn more about Tarah in the ABOUT PAGE. She’ll be busy writing (I mean napping) in the meantime. Check out my old posts
October 2020
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