YOU ARE ART. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The way you breathe and live is art. No one can do it like you. So love yourself as such. Treat yourself like the rare Mona Lisa and protect yourself from people with the wrong energy.  If someone says you love yourself too much that says more about their self-esteem than yours.

If you are a creator, create for yourself before blessing others with your gift. As some of you may know, I dabble in painting. When I first drawing portraits, I was inspired to paint other people some of whom disappointed me because they didn’t appreciate it enough. Therefore, I decided to be my own muse and started painting myself. I remember that during that time, one of my male friends came to visit and upon seeing the painting, he questioned why I was painting myself instead of other people. I found his question weird because he owned a blog and wrote a lot about his life story so as an artist he should have understood that you do not have to apologize for self-love.

I don’t know if this is a male ideology but I always laugh at the thought that women should not acknowledge their own beauty. The thought that women should be humble because “there are supposedly more beautiful women out there” that they should not celebrate their beauty. This reminds me of the One Directions lyrics for their song “beautiful” where they state “you don’t know that you’re beautiful, that’s what makes you beautiful”. In my opinion, that’s a load of crap. A woman who recognizes that she is beautiful should be more attractive than a woman who has self-esteem issues.

Anyone who recognizes their beauty, male or female, is infinitely more beautiful than those who are afraid to acknowledge theirs. So let us all love ourselves louder. If someone tells you that you’re too proud, tell them they’re not proud enough. Remember even Beyoncé has haters but even she doesn’t let them stop her from showering herself with the best maternity photo shoots.