Give yourself that which you’re longing for others to provide you. For example, you need to feel appreciated? Appreciate yourself. You want to feel taken care of or provided for? Take care of yourself. You want someone to respect you? Respect yourself. You want someone to be gentle and understanding? Be gentle and understanding of yourself.

Trust that love and tenderness with self, exactly as you are, leads to love and tenderness with others exactly as they are. Loving yourself expands exponentially.

“Love that little child who created misguided belief systems in acts of self-protection. Love the teenager who was finding their way, given some freedom of choice, yet not always knowing how to use it well. Love the young adult who was still shaped by the conditioning of their past. Love the somewhat older adult who may have questioned it all and found pain and sorrow, but kept trying to find their way. And then love who you are now, or will yet become, for the courage in trying to grow into who you are actually born to be.”

– Bronnie Ware, Your Year for Change: 52 Reflections for Regret-Free Living

So kiss that baby in the mirror who’s now an adult. Acknowledge her innocence. Celebrate her worth. Love yourself.

And don’t forget to write about it in your TAL Adventure Challenge Journal!