Zainab Al-Eqabi, Motivational Speaker & Para-Athlete
“Self-love is being confident in your own skin, in your whole being. Loving, caring and showing respect to who you really are.”
“Self-love is being confident in your own skin, in your whole being. Loving, caring and showing respect to who you really are.”
Zainab Al-Eqabi, Motivational Speaker & Para-Athlete
What does self-love mean to you?
Self-love is loving who you are! Having a wonderful relationship with your true self. It’s having a deep awareness of your strengths and imperfections, loving and respecting every bit of it! Self-love empowers us and makes us unbreakable
Why is self-love a journey?
Every stage of our lives requires a different kind of awareness. We might be facing different types of challenges and therefore, our reactions towards these challenges and towards ourselves may differ. Self-love is a journey, and we keep on learning and improving along the way. No matter what we are going through, we should constantly work on our relationship with ourselves.
How do you help others self-love?
I should go back in time and tell you more about the reason why I started sharing my story on social media. I couldn’t see a lot of self-love in people who are living with physical challenges and it was really upsetting me. I also realized that there was a lack of understanding from society towards people with disabilities. I wanted to find a way to make a positive change. Upon sharing my story and throughout the years, I was so happy to see more people joining in and sharing their stories. Through this we have managed to spread collective self-love, it is quite infectious.
So, how powerful is collective self-love?
It is so strong I can’t even describe its magnitude! Sometimes we might think that we are alone in facing whatever challenge we are going through in the moment, but once we share our story, we realise that we are definitely not alone! By opening up, we become stronger and we empower each other… and eventually, build a stronger, loving community!
GINA MARTIN, POLITICAL ACTIVIST
Gina is an author, activist, feminist and UN ambassador. She campaigned to change the law on upskirting.
“Loving yourself is a practice in a world that tells you that you shouldn't.”
Gina Martin, POLITICAL ACTIVIST & UN AMBASSADOR
What does self-love mean to you?
Self-love is permission to completely be yourself. I think the key to unlocking its power is stepping into the things you care about really honestly. It's very difficult to respect and love yourself when you're doing things that aren't authentic or don't feel completely you. The key to self-love for me was figuring out what I cared about.
Once I did that, I respected myself and felt strong enough to start loving and taking care of myself far more.
Why is self-love a journey?
If you're at the beginning of your self-love journey, it's really important not to rush it. Don’t feel like you have to go from struggling to loving every part of yourself. Slowly put more time into the things you love, spend time with the people that really care about you, get rid of people that don't, and start to make specific positive actions in your life.
My journey to self-love probably began in 2017, when I launched a campaign to change the law and worked full-time. I took on far too much, so I decided to make taking care of myself, looking after my body, resting, all those things, part of my routine.
Loving yourself and respecting yourself is a practice in a world that tells you that you shouldn't. It has to be a little bit every day, so take it slow and be honest with yourself.
How powerful is collective self-love?
I don't think there's anything more powerful than sharing our stories and experiences. If you look at major changes over the past 10 years, like the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, it has started from people sharing their stories. Constantly people feel like their stories don't matter, yet they collectively change our consciousness and culture.
That’s the one lesson that I wish everyone would heed – stand up and say something that's happened to you. That's your experience. And there's going to be other people that have felt the same way. You're going to make them feel less alone and take the shame away. That's what brings collective self-love.
SOPHIE BUTLER, FITNESS COACH & ACTIVIST
Sophie is a fitness coach and activist who campaigns to support women and empower through education.
“When we go out into the world bold and empowered, we raise everyone else.”
Sophie Butler, FITNESS COACH & ACTIVIST
How can we learn to self-love?
The key to unlocking the power of self-love is questioning everything. Throughout our lives we’ve been taught so much and we've picked up so many things subconsciously, so question why. If you wake up, look in the mirror and think, ‘I don’t like that’, ask, ‘Why?’. When you question yourself, you can move forward and start to unlock the mechanisms of overcoming that negative thought process.
I’d love to give more people the empowerment to question everything. That really is the most powerful thing. You can't make people love themselves, but you can help them to stop in their tracks and think why they don’t. Because when you think why you don’t fill your life with self-love, there really isn't a good enough answer.
How do you help others self-love?
I think helping other people wake up to the power of self-love really does start within yourself. When you’re starting your self-love journey, the most important thing is just to be kind with yourself. I don't think we all wake up one day and immediately jump to self-love.
I’d say my journey to self-love actually really began with my accident, when I became paralysed. Before I became a disabled woman, I always thought that I loved myself. But it wasn’t until I went through a life-changing event, until I became someone who is now living in a marginalised body and a body that isn’t often celebrated, that I really had to learn what self-love was.
How powerful is collective self-love?
I think self-love is really at its most powerful when it's in a collective formation and we're all really coming together with our own individual self-love. I think when we can go out into the world bold and empowered, we can then help raise everyone else up.