Love is to care very much about someone, especially a member of your family or a close friend.
Love is to like something very much or to enjoy doing something very much.
Love is to have a strong feeling of loyalty to your country.
Love has various meanings, and there are many different kinds of love, such as that between parents and their children, teachers and their students, males and females, and friends.
Love is what’s most valued in Christianity. There are also many songs about love in the modern pop genre. In the movies, love is the most popular theme. Love is all around us, but how can you show love for yourself?
I show my love for myself in many ways. For example, I read books slowly and go on trips by myself. When I travel alone, I am able to focus on myself and devote all my time to myself. I do not find long travel boring as it allows me to meditate on my life on the way to my destination. Moreover, many tourists and natives in the places that I visit are very nice and show love for one another and for their visitors. When I was in Denmark, for instance, I met a person who was majoring in ancient Italian languages. We learned each other’s language. From the time I returned to South Korea, we have been in touch with each other by e-mail. I want to discover my identity and character by communicating with new acquaintances, which are refreshing encounters. I thus get to know myself better during my travels. The freedom that I experience in another country can dispel my minor problems and compels me to go back to life’s basics.
I jog every night, with music, even though I find it difficult to do so every day. I easily get tired when I go outside, but doing so enkindles my passion. It is likely that a person’s mental and physical conditions depend on how she cares for herself. Love is very much an element in these conditions.
I have been a Soongsil Times reporter for three years now, and I have found many ways to show love for myself in this organization. When I was a college freshman, I was confused about what I could do in school. I felt terrible about all the things that were happening around me. I thus became a member of the SSU Orchestra, a volunteer in one of SSU’s offices, and a mathematics helper for young students. I have met numerous people, whom I interviewed for news articles, and I experienced the joys of ‘living a new life’ by talking to others.
Loving one’s self is related to self-confidence. If you don’t love yourself, your love recipe is not complete. That is, you can’t be loved by others and can’t love others as well. Indeed, learning to love yourself is the best love recipe.
How will you show love for yourself from now on?
Kang Sung-kyung (Editor-in-Chief)
bible1115@ssu.ac.kr
