What I like about myself.

It seems there's a lot of complaining going on in this world. And I should know, 'cos I'm one of the complainers. But recently I've been thinking about maybe counting my blessings more often instead of my failures. Also, I just read apricot tea's most recent blog entry on what she loves about herself, and I was even more inspired by the comments she got than the entry itself. She asked her readers to list at least five things they like about themselves, and the answers just made me happy.

Anyway, all this has led me to compose a list of 10 things that I love about myself and my life right now.

1. I love being healthy. As we speak my sister is recovering from a sickness and it suddenly struck me that you are nothing and can achieve nothing if you don't have your health. Everyday I wake up I should be glad I'm able to get out of bed unassisted, in my right mind and with a healthy body.

2. I love being single. I know there are a lot of women who are always in relationships, and I always thought they were the lucky ones because they always had someone around. But I've realized that being constantly in a relationship isn't that healthy and that some of these girls don't know who they are outside of their partner. And that they feel that the only way to validate their being is if there is someone there to dote on them and tell them that they are worthy.
However, I am not and have never been that girl. Greater periods of my life have been spent single than in a relationship, and I've never regretted that. However, earlier this summer, just because it was summer, I started feeling lonely and thinking maybe I should give this relationship thing another whirl. But then I realized that I was thinking about being in a relationship for all the wrong reasons. I mean, there was no significant person I deemed acceptable at the time, and I never think that one should get into a relationship just because they're lonely. But instead because they're ready. And when there's a partner worthy of your heart.
And anyway, like I've said, I'm beginning to love this single thing. No calls every five minutes. No feeling of responsibility. No explaining my every action to someone. In fact, I love singledom so much now that a guy would have to be pretty freaking amazing to change my mind now. Haha!

3. I love my hair. Now there is one thing in my life that I spend a considerable amount of time and effort on, and that is my hair. I dote on it, I pamper it, I spend way more on it than I do on my other obsession: clothes. It's mid length right now and it's healthy so I'm happy. I've never been a fan of extensions, hair-pieces, weave or whatever you want to call it. So I decided that I would take care of my own (albeit thin) hair so I wouldn't have to resort to such methods. Taking the time to get your own hair done well is so much more worth it than putting in someone else's hair. If you take care of it, it will be healthier snd thicker and all those hairstyles you thought you could only achieve with weave are now achievable with your own hair because its healthy enough to take it.

4. I love my body. I'm somewhat vertically challenged, just over five feet, but I've always kinda liked that. And I have a decent figure. Not too thin, not too curvy, just right. I probably need to tone up in some areas, but nobody's perfect. And I'm fine the way I am.

5. I love my family. I have a fantastic family. We have our little spats and tiffs, but now I take an objective step back and look at my family, we're not so bad. My whole family loves me and I hope they know that I love them very much. I should probably tell them that more often.

6. I love my close friend K. Do you know what it's like to have a forever friend? The kind that you just know if you stopped talking to him or her today, and just saw him/her five years later you could pick up where you left off with no awkwardness? I mean, this friend means so much to me. Has always been there for me, and I've always done the same. In this person, I found the ride-or-die type friend that had always eluded me, and in me this person found the listening, non-judgmental friend. And I'm so happy we found each other, because close friends like that are just so hard to find. Most people only find one or two in their lifetime.

7. I love my weird sense of style. I have a very strange way of dressing, and since I started following blogs I've found people with a similar style to mine but not quite. Its just very strange. If I had to describe it it would probably be similar to Kate Moss's or Karen Blanchard 's sort of style. Kinda bohemian, but not as bohemian as Karen. But basically, my style is never too glamorous or too clean. My hair will always be a bit tousled (I've discovered that this is a nice word substitute for shaggy or unkempt), my shirt will be oversized, and my clothes might not match. And that's just me. Growing up, I didn't have a whole lot of clothes and I had a lot of hand-me-downs from my sisters, so I had to be creative with what I did have. And this has contributed to my strange style. And I love it.

8. I love my eyes. I'm fortunate enough to have nice eyes, but I played around with coloured contacts for awhile until so many people told me I looked better with my natural eye colour that I decided to go back to clear contacts.

9. I love.... Love. I don't think I've really found it yet, but I know it's out there, and I've caught glimpses of it in the love I receive from my family and my friends. But that not the love that I really want. I want the type of love between a man and a women..or a woman and woman..or a man and a man...depending on what you're into. Anyway, I'm getting myself confused. I want the love between two people who feel like they need each other and they complete each other, not just in a sexual way but in a beautiful, abstract, intangible way that is so hard to describe.

10. And finally, I love my blog. And I love those that have commented so far. All three of you. Seriously you have truly made this all worth it. No, seriously, I had abandoned this blog till I saw E's comment under my first blog entry encouraging me. Thank you so much.