To Marquette students, it’s probably already evident that Valentine’s Day is here if they’ve seen the red, pink and heart-shaped cards strewn about the second floor of Raynor Memorial Library.
Amongst candy grams and things of that nature, Valentine’s Day is often solely seen as a day for those in romantic relationships to celebrate their love for each other. This Feb. 14, some Marquette students are learning to love themselves instead.
Jules Balli, a first-year graduate student in the College of Communication, said that an important aspect of loving yourself is knowing who you are and accepting that. With this, she said a good social circle that is accepting of a person for who they are can positively influence self-esteem.
“I think a lot of [self-love] is reflection and acceptance of yourself. Looking at the people around you, because the people around you affect your self-love as well. Really just reflecting yourself and accepting, I think those are the two main components,” Balli said.
Megan Laurent, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, recognized the ability to find self-love in herself instead of singularly through connections with others. She said that this independence has not only made her realize what she wants in life, but also in relationships.
“I feel like I want somebody that puts me first, and I also don’t want to depend on somebody else for my happiness,” Laurent said.
Laurent said that she values past experiences because they have taught her how to love herself more wholly. She said that in the past, she found herself depending on others for her own happiness, which she realized was not a good self-love tactic. Because of this, she said she has learned to prioritize self-love and live for herself, instead of other people.
“[I] make time for myself and make sure that I’m doing things that make me happy and not other people happy,” Laurent said.
Sean Habash, a first-year student in the College of Health Sciences, said he thinks it’s important for people to have good things in their life that bring them joy. Habash said that he maintains his own happiness through talking to loved ones, hanging out with friends and playing ultimate frisbee.
“All those things keep me happy, so I might as well keep them in my daily life,” Habash said.
Students said that past events are valuable because they allow people to figure out why things didn’t work out in a certain way.
Habash said that last year he had a different view of what he thought his future might look like. He said that at the time, a big goal of his was to receive a full-tuition scholarship at a college/university. And, while he said that this did not happen, he is content with where he is now.
“I think you could definitely learn from the past, I don’t think you should dwell on the past. Learn from it, move on. Live and learn,” Habash said.
Noah Kaye, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said that there are things in his life like getting good grades or finishing big projects that he couldn’t achieve right away. He said that these past shortcomings are not an end all be all and have made him realize that he’s not going to get everything immediately.
“I got time, I’m young,” Kaye said.
Kaye said that people should see the past in the rearview mirror. He said that people should possess a drive to succeed where a younger version of themselves couldn’t, and maintain self-love amidst that.
“You obviously want to have high expectations, but you don’t want to put yourself over the edge. A big part of it is resilience. You don’t want to lose hope and stop, you want to take that failure and come back,” Kaye said.
Laurent said that college is a diverse place where different types of people can meet and grow together. And, she said that it’s important to maintain a good head space in that process.
“Especially now, when we’re all this age, and when we’re all figuring out what we want to do and who we want to be, I feel like self-love is a really important thing that we always have to keep in our back pockets,” Laurent said.
This story was written by George Kane. He can be reached at [email protected].
