What do you get when you mix Valentine’s Day and Black History Month?

A month of black love!

Valentine’s day is always seen as a day for spouses or just giving gifts/showing love to others, but what about yourself!? It’s so important to show yourself love, and if you’re not new here, then you know that I’m an advocate for doing such as I’ve been on my own journey for a long time. Although it’s important for everyone to show themselves love, it’s black history month and I want to talk about showing yourself love as a black person by continuing with part two of 5 ways to show yourself love as a black person.

There are so many different ways you can do so, and I hope you take these tips with you and put them to practice!

Take care of your health

It’s unfortunate but not uncommon that when we see statistics for health issues or diseases, black people are often higher up in the stats for those issues. As sad as it sounds, the best way you can show yourself and your body love as a black person is to work on staying as healthy as you can. Black people are sometimes not treated with as much care as other patients when it comes to some doctors, so it’s important to add “find the right doctor” to the list as well. Take care of yourself so you can continue to thrive!

Learn financial literacy

I’ve seen so many posts and affirmations on social media about being the first black millionaire in the family and I think that’s amazing! Learning about financial literacy is showing yourself love financially. It’s about taking care of your funds so that you’re able to take care of yourself. There are so many books, podcasts, and more from other black people who took the time to learn themselves and are here to help. Financial literacy is important and the more we continue to learn, the more doors we are able to open.

Talk to a therapist

I put this in the first part, but I wanted to emphasize just how important it is to talk to a specialist. As black people, we truly do go through so much each and every day. There’s always either a trial going on from a previous and unjust murder or we’re hearing about a new one. There are so many people who refuse to educate themselves on why we say some things are cultural appropriation or choose to use the n-word because “why not…it’s just a word”. There is so much that goes on and we often are taught to hold our feelings in, but that’s not okay. It’s okay to share your frustrations and what you’re going through. It’s okay to talk to a specialist and seek help.

Be unapologetically you

Loving yourself as a black person means to be unapologetically you without any care in the world. There are many stereotypes about black women and men that can make it hard to just live and be who you are. Sometimes no matter what you do, you’ll always end up labeled as “ghetto” or “rough” simply because you’re black. There are also the stereotypes within our community itself if you “don’t speak black” and you’re labeled as an “oreo”. Despite the stereotypes that are around, being who you are as a black person and owning your personality is showing yourself love! It doesn’t matter what others think about you or your features. All that matters is what you think about yourself and you’re living the way you want to live.

Take care of your skin

Lastly, it’s important to take care of your skin! We all know the saying that black doesn’t crack, but I think we can sometimes let that saying get to our heads. Black can absolutely crack if you’re not taking care of your skin properly. This can also go along with the first statement I made at the beginning about taking care of your health. With the combination of a health and skin routine, you’ll look and feel amazing and take over the world as the beautiful black person you are!

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Practicing ways to love yourself as a black person is important, not only during black history month, but every single month and day of the year. It can become so easy for us to neglect our self-care and mental health, but it’s necessary to take care of these things, especially in this world that we’re in. Remember to take care of yourself and show yourself as much love and grace as you need!

What’s your favorite way to show yourself love as a black person? Any tips you would add?