1,000 views!



Hello all! 

Forgive me! I’ve been so m.i.a the past week. Moving is definitely a major process. Plus I’ve just been super tired aka lazy to write anything. This thing called life can really take it out of you sometimes even when it’s going pretty well. 

But some news for The Self Love Challenge. 

I’ve realized that writing a post every single day is pretty near impossible unless you absolutely nothing else to do with your life or you write for a living, so unfortunately I will be cutting down my posts to once a week. So they will now be weekly challenges rather than daily challenges! 

Two, we official have 1,000 page views! Woot woot! This is a great milestone for me since my blog is just a tiny baby blog still and only has about 33 followers, which I am so grateful for every single one of you by the way! But 1,000 views wow. I never even thought I’d get past 100. But let’s keep this thing growing, right? So don’t forget to like my Facebook page for the Self Love Challenge (www.facebook.com/theselflovechallenge) and share it, like it, comment on it, message me! Whatever! Just keep on sharing that love and goodness. 

And third, moving on to this weeks self love challenge. 

The Self Love a Weekly Challenge #1: show forgiveness to others and yourself.

I listened to a sermon this morning on the importance of forgiveness and how in reality, unforgiveness hurts us more than it hurts others. We carry around this kind of bitterness in our bodies that slowly eats away at us bit by bit and makes us grow cold towards society in general. We start to see the bad in people more than the good. We are slow to trust or even trust at all. We don’t want to open up or be vulnerable anymore. We simply close ourselves off because of the past hurts we have felt and really that is no way to live. Plus when we choose to not forgive someone, it really is only hurting ourselves. It doesn’t affect them in any way because they simply keep going with their life but we still sit in this constant state of aggravation. 

Who wants to live life that way? So when we forgive someone, it’s like a release. It gives us peace in our hearts. Yes, that person may not deserve forgiveness but for your own sake and peace of mind, forgive them. It’s not up to you really to say who is deserving of forgiveness or not because in reality God has given us ultimate forgiveness for our sins and he is ultimately the one who decides justice in the end. We are simply called to forgive as we have also been forgiven. 

So no matter how small or large the offense may be, work towards forgiving others for the hurts they have caused you. It may take time and a lot of effort, but once you do that weight will be lifted and you will feel a wonderful sense of peace. 

Write out a list of names of who you need to forgive today. Go through each person, remember the hurts they’ve caused you, and choose to let go and offer forgiveness instead. You may not forget what they have done but you will find peace from letting go of that bitterness that is keeping you from moving forward and living a free life. 

xx

Christina Ciro

Take Responsibility!



A lot of people have this idea that one day magically it will all fall into place. That they will land the perfect job. Meet the perfect individual. Live in the perfect neighborhood. And have all the right things. They wait for this moment of perfection to come. They say things like, “oh I will be happy when ___ happens.” Or “This is only temporary. Everything will be better for me soon.” But what most of us don’t realize is that things aren’t just going to magically fall into place. The true magic is when we actively make things happen. When we go after our dreams and work hard towards our goals. So in the end, it’s all up to us to create that life we truly want. It’s up to us to seek after that dream job, dream person, dream home, and dream whatever. We have to make it happen. We can’t just wait until later or when we are ready. We have to do it now. Because all we have is now.

 

It’s your choice to do things. No one can do it for you, as much as we think that is the case. In reality, we are the only ones who have control over where our lives go. Sure unexpected things may happen, luck may have it’s place, but in reality, we ultimately choose how successful our lives become. So what I’m trying to get to is we have to make those choices to go after what we want.

 

Our lives our 100% our responsibility. No one is coming to save you. No one is going to hand you your dreams on a silver platter. As harsh as it sounds, you have to go and make things happen.

 

I’m learning this lesson myself. At first, I was so afraid of taking risks or taking chances or even just going after what I wanted. I thought that may if I was patient enough, the good things would come to me. And yes, some things that were good did come to me, but in reality, it was always because I was open to them happening. I made the choice of being open to them happening. I helped them come to me. I’m still making choices of making things happen in my life because in reality, it’s the only way it’s going to ever work. We can’t keep wasting time just waiting on things to happen. We can’t just say that once we achieve this or wait until that happens, then we’ll allow ourselves to go after whatever it is we want. NO! DO IT NOW. Make your life happy now. Make your life joyful NOW.

 

Don’t wait until tomorrow because tomorrow may never come. And when it does come, you’ll look back and realize a thousand tomorrow’s passed and along with it plenty of missed opportunities and you will be sad that you didn’t take the chances you wanted to take. I think that sometimes it’s better to try and fail than to never try at all. I think that even if we do fail, that it is worth so much more than simply doing nothing. We still get somewhere when we fail – whether we gain an experience or something else out of it. It’s further than we started. 

 

So there’s your dose of motivation for today folks. DO IT NOW. Don’t wait. Don’t waste precious time.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge # 065 – Do things now, don’t wait for tomorrow.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge # 066 – It’s up to you to take control of your life and be responsible for your own destiny.

 

xx

 

Christina Ciro

 

 

Listen to your heart.



This might sound a bit corny, but when people tell you to listen to your heart. Do it. I know the brain is a bit more logical, but sometimes true happiness and contentment isn’t found in logic, but rather in what the heart truly longs for. Now I don’t mean go and make stupid decisions based on your emotions. There is a clear difference between making emotional decisions, and following what you truly have a passion or longing for. Emotional decisions can be stupid, yes. Therefore, don’t base your decisions in life fully on them. Emotions can always change, sometime rapidly if you’re not careful. But what I mean by listen to your heart is, don’t forget about your passions. Don’t do life according to what everyone thinks is the right thing to do or what society feels is the right thing to do. Don’t live life according to some mapped out plan and forget about real substance like adventure, beauty, love, and unpredictability.

 

I was living a logical life for a very long time. Making my decisions upon whether it was the right thing to do for other people and what they wanted for me, rather if it was what I truly wanted to do. I wanted to work in film. I even started going to school for it. But I stopped because the logical thing to do was to take an offer at a corporate company that was secure and offered benefits and a future. I was a constant saver. Saving everything and never spending anything on myself, never enjoying anything I earned. Later on, because of my illness I had to spend all I saved on bills during the time I was not working. I made mistakes financially. Spent on others. Helped others. Gave too much to others. Everything was always about other people in my life. It was never about me. And I’m not saying that it should always be about you, because that’s a selfish way of thinking, but there comes a time when you must draw the line. When you must learn to value yourself and what you truly desire, and go after it, despite what anyone thinks. 

 

In reality, it is your life in the end. Not theirs. It is your experience, not theirs. It is your time, not theirs. Everyone will pull you in different directions, but ultimately the choice is up to you.

 

This year I am finally understanding what it means to listen to your heart. I am learning what I truly want from life. I learning what I truly have a passion or desire for and I am going after it. I am doing whatever makes me feel alive and well and whole. It may not always be logical in the sense that it is good for everyone else, but it is logical enough in the sense that it is what I need and what I should be doing.

 

I think when we forget to follow our heart sometimes, we begin to die a little. We lose that fire inside us. The light begins to dim. We lose our courage. We forget about exploration and we succumb to predictability. I don’t think this is a healthy way of living. And yet so many of us do because we are so afraid to let others down or to hurt our image we have created for others to see. What would happen if we simply just listened to our heart once in a while? Would we be happier? Would we feel more alive? Would we be more creative or passionate? Would we get more accomplished? I think so. I know so.

 

Ever since I began making choices based on what was good for me rather than what was good for others, I’ve felt more genuinely happy, as if I wasn’t truly living before, and now I am. My eyes have been opened to a new world of possibilities and even my fear is diminishing. I think that’s another thing that happens when we follow our heart. Fear disappears. Why? Because when we live to please others we are constantly in a state of fear that we will let them down. But when we follow after what we truly want for ourselves, there is no fear. Because there is no one to please except ourselves. Is that selfish? Maybe. But I think there is a careful balance with everything. I think we can still love ourselves without having truly selfish ambitions. I believe we can still follow our hearts and still work towards doing good for humankind.

 

A quote by Brendon Burchard I read that inspired this entry was this:

 

“The war you feel within – that restlessness, the unending uncertainty – is not to be dismissed, avoided, hated. That internal conflict is not dark, it is a beaming light trying to focus you, the rolling thunderous call of courage, the rays of greatness seeking to explode beyond your skin to touch once more the Spirit of Possibility. Listen to the restlessness. It is telling you to ready yourself, to let loose, to strive for the magic and meaning of life once more.”

 

Listen to that restlessness, my friends. Allow yourself to follow your heart. You know there is much more for you. There is so much more greatness that you have yet to discover. Follow it. Run after it. Don’t be afraid to seek it. Find meaning in your life again. 

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge # 062 – Listen to your heart.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge # 063 – Seek meaning and substance in your life.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge # 064 – Don’t be afraid to be the person YOU want to be, rather than the person the world tells you to be.

 

xx

 

Christina Ciro

 

 

Give what you need.



So I’m going to make this a bit short because I’m running short on time. But I didn’t want to skip out on too many days. I know some of you eagerly await my posts and I don’t want to let you. But I have been incredibly busy packing, because, YES I am finally moving into my own place! Woo! Right? I am so excited because I finally will have my own place to call home once again. And I feel like having that really means a lot to me and how much peace I have in my life daily.

 

But onward folks! Let’s jump right in. 

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #060 – Encourage others.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #061 – Give what you need to get.

 

I was reading bible the other day and set upon a verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, that said “So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. (MSG)” It reminded me how important it really is to encourage one another. I know we all want to be encouraged and motivated to keep going by our support system, but don’t you think they need it too? How happy would you feel if you gave someone some encouragement and they told you it made their day or inspired them? You would feel pretty thrilled wouldn’t you? That your words or actions meant something to someone.

 

So I’ve been trying to be more encouraging with those around me, or even with strangers. Even if it’s something small like, “Hey I really love your outfit today. You look so great!” That would make someone feel confident about themselves and maybe even brighten up their day. But mainly, it’s good to be encouraging in any form. Encouragement is something we could all use daily.

 

Second, I was thinking about how I’ve been craving love or affection, just because I have been pretty lonely at times. Not in a romantic way necessarily but sometimes you just need a good old hug to make you feel loved. So I read somewhere whatever you need more of in your life, you should give it away. So if we need more love in our lives, then we should give out more love. If we need more kindness in our lives, then we should give out more kindness. And so on and so forth. It’s really simple. If you want something, go and put it out into the world, and you watch how fast that thing will come back to you.

 

If we love people more, they will begin to be more loving towards us. If we give out hugs, we will get more hugs. If we be more friendly, others will be more friendly to us. So I think it’s really all about giving in the end, rather than taking, but the bonus is, the more we give, the more we will inevitably get in return without even expecting it.

 

So there’s my two cents for today. I know it was short. So sorry if I disappointed you. But good things are coming. Stay tuned! Keep on be your lovable selves. And hugs to you all!

 

xx

 

Christina Ciro

 

 

The self love challenge, giving, kindness, self love, love yourself, hugs, encouragement, motivational, life, wellness, inspirational, Christina ciro,

Fake it til’ you make it!



 

A dear friend of mine decided to post on my Facebook wall yesterday out of the blue. She told me that the one word that described me was “courageous.” For a second, it caught me off guard. When I think about myself in regards to my personality as a whole, the first thing that pops into mind is surely not courageous. Shy, quiet, intellectual, creative, perhaps? But definitely not courageous. I’ve never been the go-getter type. The one who makes all of these bold moves and really goes after what she wants. I’ve always been a second guesser. Planning my every move. Weighing the pro’s and con’s to see whether it would be beneficial to do something or not. It has always taken me a lot of time to finally make a decision, and even after I will still go back and think about whether I should’ve done it differently somehow. 

 

But then I started to think further. Why would she say I was courageous? There had to be some reason. As I started to think, I realized that lately my life has been a series of courageous acts. Ever since my “breakdown” last August, I’ve had to go through so many battles and overcome so many difficulties, that in truth, a lot of it required a great deal of courage. I’ve had to make hard decisions. I’ve had to take a lot of risks. I’ve had to really trust and put all of my faith in what God had planned for me. I’ve had to do things afraid or do things despite not really wanting to do them, but knowing I had to. I guess you would call all of this courageous behavior, would you not?

 

So yes. I am courageous. Thank you for describing me as such, friend (you know who you are!) You have made me realize that my journey was one fueled by this unknown courage that I did not know I had deep down within me. It makes me think that perhaps I’ve had in within me the whole time, but my fear had always covered it up. But now that I am moving into this “new me” I am becoming less fearful and more bold. I am looking in the mirror and seeing a lion instead of a baby cub. I am growing into my wings and learning how to fly. It truly is a frightening, yet all the same while, thrilling journey. But I think we all have it in us despite how we may feel at times.

 

How would you describe yourself? Today I would like for all my followers to write a list of qualities/adjectives on how you view yourself today and how you would like to be tomorrow. If you are shy or timid like I once was, try reaching for more bolder qualities for tomorrow. Let this exercise inspire you to be a better person, to be the person you truly want to be. Let it bring out whatever hidden qualities you have within in.

 

A quote by Paulo Coelho, that I found this morning, which really inspired me was this:

 

You must be the person you have never had the courage to be. Gradually, you will discover that you are that person, but until you can see this clearly, you must pretend and invent.

 

Basically we must fake it until we make it! Pretend that we are courageous until one day we realize that we always were, we just needed to force it out of hiding from deep within us. It’s difficult but I believe with the right motivation and mindset, anyone can achieve this. We can all be whatever we choose to be. 

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #058 – Be courageous and bold!

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #059 – Describe who you were today and who you want to be tomorrow, then strive to be that person.

 

xx

 

Christina Ciro

 

 

 

 

Love Yourself First.



Loving yourself first. What do I mean by that? Well I don’t mean being selfish. I don’t mean constantly thinking about your own needs and what can benefit you all the time. I don’t mean being narcissistic and thinking you are God’s gift to the Earth. And I surely don’t mean forgetting about others and doing good for others.

 

Loving yourself first simply means just that. Love yourself. Respect yourself enough to meet your own needs. Don’t constantly push aside your needs so you can make others happy. Remember to take care of yourself. To be kind to yourself. To give yourself the kind of love you really deserve. And yes, that may mean putting yourself first from time to time, but it isn’t such a bad thing.

 

I know that society seems to think that when we do this we are being selfish or self-centered, but in reality, I think sometimes by pleasing others TOO much we are being rather cruel to ourselves, maybe even selfish in a way because we are looking for their affirmation to tell us that we are good enough and worthy enough, which is somewhat of a selfish ambition, wouldn’t you think? But it is also cruel because by pleasing others constantly we are pushing our own needs aside, which will eventually breed terrible things inside us such as anger, resentment and bitterness. And we really don’t want to be living with that junk in our system. It’s unhealthy for our minds, bodies, and souls.

 

So I want to talk about a few things that I feel are important to learning how to love yourself first.

 

One, we must learn to not compromise our needs. What I mean by this is not putting aside what we want for the sake of pleasing others. This includes our dreams, our values, our desires, what makes us happy, and anything in between. It is not selfish to do this. We are all born with specific needs to make us feel happy and functioning at a good, healthy level and when those needs are constantly unmet or pushed aside, we will begin to feel a deep sense of unhappiness, and sometimes even anger or resentment towards our lives or even other people. 

 

Sometimes we don’t even realize that we are compromising our needs. Do you ever push yourself super hard at work and not take breaks? Do you ever say to yourself that you can keep going, that you don’t need to rest or take an hour to relax? Do you ever say, “it’s ok, we’ll do what you want,” constantly? This is called compromising your needs. Constantly pushing aside what you need to feel good is NOT GOOD! Sure, once in a while we can push ourselves a bit or sacrifice for the sake of doing something nice for someone else, but when we do it constantly, we are being cruel to ourselves. This is not an act of self love. And over time, it will wear us down. It will make us bitter. And life will seem very unhappy. So don’t be afraid to stand up for what you truly need, even if it means saying no to other people or obligations. 

 

This brings me to my next point. It’s ok to say NO!

 

It’s not a bad word people, even though so many of us seem to think so. Saying no is something I’ve had to learn especially over the past year. I’m still learning how to say it. It’s such a simple two-letter word, and yet probably one of the hardest things to utter. Why? Because when we say no, I feel that part of us feelings like we are letting others down and when we do that, we equate this to our self worth a.k.a “if I say no, then they won’t like me as much.” This is why we are so afraid of saying it. So afraid of letting others down. Because we are SO afraid of rejection. We don’t want others to think less of us and therefore like us less. We want to constantly be on their good side so that we will feel loved in return.

 

But news flash! By saying yes constantly, it is only devalues ourselves in front of them. People will begin to take advantage of your good nature, as sad as that sounds, but they will! Even if they don’t mean to do so on purpose. It’s simply human nature. And then by saying yes constantly, we will begin to compromise our own needs, thereby starting the nasty cycle of feeling run down, which leads to bitterness, anger, and resentment. We will start to feel used by other people. We will start to feel like no matter what we do, no matter how many times we say yes, they still want more out of us. So this is why it’s important to learn to say no.

 

I don’t mean saying no to every single thing, because obviously that would be a selfish thing to do. Sometimes we need to say yes so we can help out others or what not. But often times, when we do say yes, our intention is usually not to help others, but rather to seek affirmation that we are indeed still loved by them because of doing whatever it is that we said yes to.

 

So let’s start saying yes when we actually mean it – when we truly want to help, rather than doing it simply because we feel obligated, or simply because we want to seek affirmation that we are still loved and worthy. Let’s also start saying no, when we feel like it’s really not appropriate for us to compromise our needs at that moment. It’s ok to say no. It’s ok to love ourselves first. Remember that.

 

So here’s the challenges for today and the past two days. 

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #055 – Love yourself first.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #056 – Don’t compromise your needs.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #057 – Learn the difference of when it’s appropriate to say yes and no.

 

xx

 

Christina Ciro

 

Follow your Dreams.



Gosh. I really have no time these days. But I’m going to just keep on chugging along even if it means short posts here and there. 

Well, let’s get on with it right? 

So I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity. I am a very creative person, or at least, I was. It stopped for awhile because of all the issues going on in my life, but lately I’ve been missing those moments of creativity I used to have. I’ve realized how important creativity really is. It’s not simply just making something like art or music or whatever your craft may be, but it’s literally a form of expression. A way to simply let go and let it all out. It’s therapeutic really. Personally, I feel that if I don’t make enough time to allow myself to be creative, I will begin to feel dead inside – like what is the point of life if I can’t be myself and express myself in creative ways. 

I think that everyone has the ability to be creative. Like I said, creativity does not have to mean making something. Creativity is more so expression and if you express yourself by writing, cool. Or dancing around, cool. Or splattering paint on canvas, cool! Whatever it is that you do to express yourself is cool! We need that. We need to do it more often because in all truth creativity is what keeps us motivated and inspired to live a better life and to better ourselves in the process. 

I think that once we begin to allow ourselves to be more creative then we will also begin to start feeling motivated to follow our dreams again. To go after what it is that we truly want. Because when we become stagnant and caught up in the daily grind day after day, creativity starts to fall back on our priorities of things to do and with that, we become even more caught up in our lives instead of going after the things that we are truly passionate for.

I think if you’re not living for your passions then you’re not really living at all. You have to find what you are passionate about, whatever it is, and continue on going after it. Every day work towards your goals. Even if it’s just for 5 minutes – at least it’s something! 

So I encourage you all today with these challenges.

The self love daily challenge #053 – embrace your creativity. 

The self love daily challenge #054 – keep following your passions and dreams.

xx

Christina Ciro

Vulnerability.



Vulnerability.

 

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” – Brene Brown

 

Throughout my journey, I’ve come to learn the importance of vulnerability, especially when it comes to creating true connections with people, and being authentic human beings within ourselves. Often, we are afraid of showing our true nature to others out of fear of judgment or ultimate rejection. We would rather hide behind a perfectly portrayed image of ourselves that we have carefully created, rather than risk being seen for who we truly are deep down inside. Is rejection really that bad? Well, yes. It is. It’s a terrifying experience when you are laying yourself out in the open that way. It gives others access to trampling all over our hearts and egos. It can even break us completely if we are not careful. But then what is the upside of being vulnerable if there are all of these other scary circumstances that come along with it?

 

Well, I believe that vulnerability is the only way to experiencing true connection, creativity, and growth whether it is within ourselves or with another person. There is no other way to experience a deep level of connection without exposing yourself on some level. 

 

So what happens when we are vulnerable with other people? We basically see each other for who we truly are. It allows us to love the person more deeply. To understand them more deeply. To connect with them more deeply. Otherwise, when we are only communicating on the surface, we will find that our connection is also very surface level and almost superficial in some circumstances. What is the point of being superficial? I think that most human beings would agree that in life all we truly ever want is to be loved and understood by others. 

 

It is scary though baring your soul out to another person. Maybe it’s not even being completely exposed, but rather simply allowing others in when you have been keeping them out for so long. Or allowing someone in on something that is bothering you in particular. 

 

I know that when I was going through my tough period of recovery, it was so difficult for me to let others in to what I was experiencing. I felt so weak as a person and almost like a failure at life and I didn’t want people to see that part of me. I wanted to appear strong and pulled together always. But when I began to accept my situation and allow people to see my vulnerability, I noticed that people really aren’t as terrifying or mean as you predict them to be. Most of the time they are pretty compassionate and understanding. They want to care for you or help you. They want to connect with you.

 

The Self Love Daily Challenge #052: Be vulnerable. 

 

Try it out. See for yourself how it might feel to reveal yourself a little more to others. To be vulnerable and open and exposed. It might be a bit frightening at first, but I think once you do it, you will feel such a deeper connection and understanding with other people. And you don’t have to do it all at once. You can just start with being more real or more yourself around others.

 

You just never know when you will spark some creativity or connection or growth by taking that risk to be vulnerable.

 

xx

 

Christina Ciro

 

Just C-H-I-L-L.

So my world, lately, has been tossed up and down, turned around, and spinned round and round multiple times for good measure. In other words, it’s CRAZY. Yup. So many changes all at the same exact time. It can really drive a girl crazy. So what better topic to write about than the art of chilling aka taking some time to just stop and relax.

This is going to be a quickie post, simply because I have to go and do my own chilling here in just a bit. I’ve had a pretty busy day and I’m really beat so forgive me for not wanting to write more than a few hundred words today. But honestly, what is there to say about relaxing. We all know the basics of what it is and yet we are constantly shoving it aside like it means nothing. We keep putting it off or saying, “let me finish this first and THEN i’ll relax.” But folks, you know what happens when you continuously push aside that time to relax…two words. BURN OUT.

Yup. Burn out. When your body and mind and everything in your being is simply so exhausted that it cannot go on any longer. You literally will lose all motivation and not have any kind of energy to even function properly anymore. I’ve experienced burn out, it’s not fun people, i’m telling you! You feel so tired that just sitting still is exhausting. You can’t think straight. Your body feels out of whack. Everything is just wrong, wrong wrong!

So this is why it is CRUCIAL and MANDATORY to chill. Seriously. Just do it. 20 minutes a day at least. An hour if you can muster it. But please, take that time to chill. It doesn’t have to be anything special like going out to the spa and dropping $60 on a massage. It can simply be just sitting somewhere quiet and peaceful and just sitting. Just sitting. That’s relaxing enough. Just taking that moment out of your day to stop being on the go, go, go and just sitting still and chilling.

Trust me. You will thank me for it. Your body will thank me for it. And your mind will thank me for it. You will feel the difference when you take that time to relax, otherwise eventually it’s going to catch up to you. You don’t think it will, but it will. It’s inevitable because we were not made to function at high-speed constantly. Yes, sometimes we have to operate at that level, but we were also built to rest. That is why there is the seventh day of rest in the Bible. Even God had to do it! So why shouldn’t we?

So everyone please go take a chill pill and enjoy the rest of your evenings!

The Self Love Daily Challenge #052: Take at least 20 minutes of your day to simply chill. 

xx

Christina Ciro

YOU!

Hello. Hello.

I know, it’s been a few days since my last post. Things have been pretty hectic over here. Lots of changes happening in my life right now. This journey is a very twisted one, but hopefully it’s worth the trip at the end, right? So. Let’s see. I have to catch up on three daily self love challenges for all of you lovely followers out there. (30 and counting! – this is very exciting.)

What do I have for you today? Well my theme is you. I know that doesn’t really make a lot of sense. But I read this quote this morning on twitter that said, “Be your own hero. Inspire yourself. And never give up on yourself.” I know it’s simple wording, but at the same time these words weighed heavy on my heart today. It got me thinking how important we are for ourselves. We basically have to be our own cheerleader most of the time in our lives. Sure, other people will support us at times or encourage us, but in the end it really is just me, myself, and I.

And that’s ok because what better person to depend on fully than yourself, right? And if we don’t believe in ourselves and encourage ourselves, then really who else will? We can’t depend on others to do that for us, no matter how great some people are.

In relation to my own life, I was thinking about how right now I’m the one who has to go through this journey. Yup. Me. I have to experience it all for myself. Nobody else can experience it for me. That leaves a lot of room for internal thinking and time for myself. I’m the one who has to make decisions, whether good or bad. I’m the one who has to experience different waves of emotions. I’m the one who has to choose which road to follow. I’m the one who has to motivate myself to keep going. I can’t depend on anyone else to do that for me, because if I did, then it wouldn’t truly be my own journey. And I think that’s important. I think we need to face our journeys ourselves, otherwise they wouldn’t have the kind of impact on our lives that we need. We need to learn and experience through these trials, instead of leaning on others to walk us through them. Yes, of course sometimes it’s good to lean on others for support, but in the end we have to be the ones to take the actual steps of moving forward.

So here are the three daily challenges.

The Self Love Challenge #049: Be your own hero.

Be your own hero. Be inspired by your journey. Motivate yourself. Look up to you because you are the one who is courageous enough to follow your heart and your dreams right now. Be encouraged by that alone that you are not simply settling, but moving forward and taking those risks to better your life. You don’t need to be successful or have a bunch of achievements under your belt or do anything extraordinary to be considered a hero. You simply just have to have courage to keep going. In my book that is considered a hero. If you don’t give up. If you keep going despite failures and set backs.

The Self Love Challenge #050: Inspire yourself.

Don’t wait for others to give you inspiration, seek after it yourself. You have it right there within you. You don’t have to wait for the perfect moment or the perfect opportunity, or even the perfect timing. Just get up and seek after whatever inspires you. Look for beauty in everyday life. Seek out creativity. Find inspiration in the ordinary. If you seek it out, you will find it, I promise you this. And once you do find it, your world will expand only that much more and you will find that motivation to keep going and keep searching for that ultimate inner joy.

The Self Love Challenge #051: Never give up on Yourself.

This is a big one. Like I said earlier, you have to be your own cheerleader. You have to believe in yourself, because often times, nobody else will. You have to motivate yourself and trust that you have it in you to do something great and achieve whatever it is that you are after. And don’t give up on yourself if you do fail or make a mistake. Failing is half the journey. I know, weird right? But it’s true. When we fail, it gives us opportunity to grow stronger, to discover more, to learn more, to become better. Without failure, we wouldn’t learn very much and sometimes what comes easy is not good. We need that adversity to make us stronger. So forget the haters and push forward. The only real motivation you need is deep inside you. If you can believe in yourself, then you have everything you need.

Signing off with love and hopefully things will become a bit less hectic in my life soon so I can devote more time to the Self Love Challenge. But for now, enjoy, stay positive. Live Happy. Live fully, my friends.

xx

Christina Ciro

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