Love yourself this Valentine's day!

For those of you who read my posts regularly, you're probably aware that my two favourite topics within feminism are (1) advertising/media, and (2) body image and self esteem. Since today is Valentine's Day, I wanted to share a quote about loving yourself from one of my favourite writers, Ayn Rand.

I believe that a lack of self esteem is one of the most serious issues facing North American women today. I won't get into too much detail here, but you can read my post The Absolute Importance of Self Esteem to find out why I think self love is critical to happiness and sucess in almost all aspects of your life.

So, this Valentine's day, you should definitely give props to the people in your life that you love, but also remember to love yourself first and foremost. Here is one of my favourite quotes from Ayn Rand (please excuse the masculine pronouns - it was written in 1964!).

"To love is to value. Only a rationally selfish man, a man of self-esteem, is capable of love—because he is the only man capable of holding firm, consistent, uncompromising, unbetrayed values. The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone."

- Ayn Rand in “The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness