Valentine’s day is traditionally a day to celebrate love between two people. However, loving yourself well is the key to loving others well so, why don’t we celebrate that more? The daunting relationship that I have with self-love and self-awareness is something that I have worked to improve within the past few years. It has become somewhat of a joke between me and some friends but I have started to say aloud, "I'm happy and I love myself" whenever I'm upset or thinking about something negative and hurtful. This simple statement is somewhat funny and never fails to make me grin. The audible profession of something that isn't necessarily always true has become something that can stop a negative thought in my brain in its tracks. Negative thoughts isolate however, positive thoughts can exude change. So, during this shoot, hearing people say out loud something they love about themselves—something positive— was moving. Watching twenty of my best friends sit in front of me and state something about themselves that they find endearing or attractive was an oddly vulnerable thing to do. I learned a lot during this shoot, about my friends and about myself but I think the thing that stuck with me most clearly was the fact that loving ourselves shouldn’t make us uncomfortable, it should empower us. So, this valentine’s day, love yourself, shout it from the rooftops, because that relationship is an important one and one to be celebrated for sure.