National Self-Love Month

January happens to be National Self-Love Month! With the New Year here,  it's the perfect time to remind each and every one of you how important self-love is! While most don't know self-love month exists, here is how it came about:

Self-Love Month started in the 1960s following the catastrophic impacts of World War II and with troops still waging war in Vietnam, western societies began promoting love and peace. 

Here in the U.S, self-love was adopted by the Black community in the 1970s during the Black Power Movement. The slogan "Black is Beautiful" became a platform to reject the burden of "white beauty" standards during the Black Power Movement.

Prior to the 1970s, the cultural ideal was to use perms or hot combs to straighten Black hair. The afro became the most fashionable hairdo during the Black Power Movement allowing black hair to grow freely, chemical free, and to embrace the curly hair texture.

During the 1970s, this type of self-love and empowerment was a strategy for African-Americans to battle the stigma tied to their natural hair texture, which was and still is viewed as inappropriate in the professional world today.

It is so easy to forget about ourselves when we are constantly pouring into other cups instead of our own. We get caught up with our children, spouses, families, work, school, politics, society's standard of "perfect", and just LIFE! It is so easy to lose ourselves and it's even harder to pull ourselves back.

What does self-love look like for you? What can you do to love yourself more these days? Here is a 30 day challenge that I think all of is could use:

"Loving yourself first creates a solid foundation for everything else"

Written by Nicole Forsythe