“i love myself.’

the

quietest.

simplest.

most

powerful.

revolution.

ever.”

― Nayyirah Waheed

I came across the above poem on Instagram a while back and instantly it grabbed my attention and I was so amazed that such simple words could carry so much power.

I think more than anything, what drew me to the poem was the first three opening words “i love myself”…and the reason why those three words made such an impact was based on a recent conversation I had with my friends. I had shared with them that; it always amazes me how society is more welcoming of negative affirmations of ourselves; if I say “I talk too much”, “I am impatient”,”I am not easy to get along with”. Though on the negative side, these will be more acceptable. But as soon as you use positive affirmations of yourself;  If I say “I am incredible”, “I am a great human being”, “I am good at my job”, people often think you are arrogant or glorifying yourself. Because as people we often want to “fit in” we find ourselves saying more of the former and that is detrimental.

So I want to challenge these societal abnormalities and adopt a different approach. I believe that – you can never give off what you not full off. We are all giving off something in the world, whether its our expertise, our charity, our time, our love, our hate, our incompetence, etc…but there is something each person gives off in the world.

But I also do know that most people, at the core of their existence is an overwhelming desire to leave the world better than they found it. And I truly believe that to love and serve the world well, you must love and serve yourself well.

Thus continuing to choose you is the foundation of making the real difference. A young man at church said “it’s in our individual difference that we make a difference”. I really love this statement because it carries a peaceful realisation that, it’s okay to be different in the world, sometimes we think being and acting the same is ideal, but actually we should all aim to be different. It’s in choosing to be different that our effectiveness in our different vocations and avocations will be born and cemented.