You look at yourself in the mirror. Not peeking, not glancing – but really looking. Eyeing every inch of your body. You find yourself examining your face. You are certainly not 16 years old anymore. It takes you a few seconds to recognize that face. I mean, how long has it been since the last time you fully looked at yourself? Days, months, years? Who knows.

You  realize your hair is longer (you might need to trim those split ends). You realize that it’s been a while since you did things for you. You realize that all this time you’ve been neglecting yourself.

You’ve been neglecting you. And, man it hurts. It sucks. It’s awful. You spent years pleasing others but never truly pleasing yourself. You dated a few guys. You befriended many people who used to mean so much to you once upon a time. Eventually things ended and you experienced having your heart shattered in many ways. You faced terrible pain and you kept running for more.

You have two options: You can choose to cry your eyes out OR do something about your current situation.

Yeah, be done with all the crying. That gets you nowhere.  This time, take the more pro-active approach:

No more neglecting who you are.

No more pleasing others.

No more dating Mr. Right-Nows.

It’s time to do you.

It’s time you take yourself out on a date.

It’s time to try that new sushi place.

It’s time to fall in love with love.

What do I mean by that? I mean fall in love with the meaning of love. Fall in love with people and places and cultures and find inner love.

It’s time to romance yourself.

I mean, why not?

All this time you’ve tried building relationships with fools and somehow forgot to build a relationship with you. It’s never too late.

Go out there and buy yourself ice-cream. Get a beer. Count cars that pass by and laugh at yourself.

It always helps.