It’s getting close to February and soon we will be seeing ads and themes full of the 4 letter word, L-O-V-E. For some it’s a time to celebrate with the love of your life and for others it’s a day full of dread and eye rolls. So here’s my challenge to you. Put a new association with the month of February. Instead of celebrating your love for someone else, spend the month falling in love with yourself in a new light. What do I mean? Let me share a personal story in hopes to inspire you.

Since I was about 6 years old, I have loved fashion and anything that has to do with being “girly.”  But not for the reasons some of you might think. You see, I was backward and shy when I was younger. I was always the quiet one with low self-esteem. The only way I knew how to be outgoing was through fashion. My personal style is the one thing I’ve always taken pride in and it helps me feel good about myself.

So, I’m sure by now you’re wondering how this has anything to do with falling in love with yourself. My point in sharing that snippet is to say this. Falling in love with yourself doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process, because life can be tough.  It can cause new things to arise which may lead to insecurities. Maybe you started a new job and you’re not kicking butt right away or maybe you’re going through a break-up or lost a friend. Life events affect us and in turn can awaken different sides of ourselves we’ve never even known about.

When life gets tough and you feel stressed think of some of the things you loved about yourself before you started feeling this way. I, for example resort to my love of fashion as a creative outlet. One of my dreams is to have a small clothing line so I spent some of my time in 2017 devoted to putting something into action to see if I could do it. I started off with designing a few tee shirts to get my creative juices flowing. That was pretty fun but it’s not exactly what I was wanting when it came to a clothing line. The idea of creating a dress line was much more appealing to me. I was blessed enough to be aligned with the right people in my life at the right time to help make a fashion sketch become a reality. It’s a very surreal experience and an indescribable feeling to have people encourage you to pursue something that you’ve only dreamt about. I may not have my own dress-line yet but I’m not giving up and I’m learning a lot about myself.

So how have I fallen in love with myself?

1. I can honestly say that I love that I don’t care what people think when it comes to my personal style. That’s a hard thing to achieve and I’m happy about that.

2. I am a doer.  When I have the dream of doing something in my life I do everything in my power to try and make it happen. Does it always come true? Of course not, but that’s part of life and I simply have to accept what life throws my way.

So here I am sharing a personal testimony  of my self-love. The dress you see me wearing in these pictures is an original design by me! My long-time friend, Allison McComas from Charleston, WV created the pattern and local resident, Sheila Roberts constructed my garment from Allison’s pattern. During this mini photoshoot I had the awesome talent of Tonya Winebrenner to do my hair and make-up and fellow fashion-lover Kelsey Preston behind the camera.

I hope me sharing a different side of love helps you in some way! Maybe you’ll pick up an new or old hobby that will make you fall in love with yourself. Just remember that someone else’s love or approval doesn’t define you.  Take control of your life and make yourself happy.

 

If you’d like to learn more about my journey in the fashion world, feel free to follow my blog; www.randomosity740.com.

Fashion Designer: Courtney Smith-Randomosity 740

Photographer: Kelsey Preston

Hair and Make-up: Tonya Winebrenner
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