Amore di sé

Amore di sé

February rolls around each year and we begin to love all things candy and chocolate, we hope we will receive some beautiful red roses, or one of those oversized teddy bears from the local Costco. We mull over Valentines Day cards to find the perfect one for that perfect someone. Some may argue that this is only one day of the year, but the mass amounts of social media, Kay jewelry commercials and red and pink fixations all over target are enough to make anyone and everyone think about love.

What type of love should we be thinking about? The valentine cliché of February tells us that we should be thinking about our love for others. But I am here to tell you that this notion is wrong.

Before even thinking about loving someone else, you must first have love for yourself. You should be your biggest fan, number one motivator, and person to lean on. We sometimes get so caught up in this notion of love in the month of February, and we may stress over buying the perfect gift, or stress about not having anyone to buy a gift for. These stresses make us forget who is truly important to show our love to, and that is YOURSELF!

Igniting confidence within starts with loving yourself. If you can set aside all prior agreements you have made about yourself, start fresh and begin to love who you are; your confidence will ignite.

How do we start to LOVE who we are and the life that we live? Here are 4 steps you can put into action today…

1. Acknowledge your feelings

Become more mindful of how you feel in every situation, be truthful with yourself, do not suppress negative emotions and let them pile up. If you choose to acknowledge your feelings you then will have the opportunity to change those feelings into something more positive!

2.  Reward yourself

Instead of waiting for someone else to acknowledge something important you accomplished, reward yourself. It could be as small as writing yourself a little powerful note, to buying yourself your favorite candy. No one but you is responsible for making you happy!

3. Promote positivity

Share words of kindness. Anything negative that you say about others is a direct reflection of how you view yourself and your life. Create a positive aura of yourself and project this positivity wherever you go.

4. Eliminate self-criticism

Say no to self-hate. Anytime you recognize you criticizing yourself, change that perspective, this goes hand in hand with promoting positivity, change your way of thinking, and love every single aspect of yourself, from your hair to your toes and everything in-between. You have the power to change these thoughts.

If you put into action these four steps, you will be loving yourself in no time!

I am one of those people who is obsessed with taking those buzzfeed quizzes and learning more about myself, well, really I love taking any kind of personality test, so I found this awesome quiz about how much you love yourself! It is super quick and it may open your eyes to something you personally need to work on to show yourself some more lovin’

****TAKE THIS QUIZ****

Lastly, remember to “Ignite Women’s Confidence” you must start with yourself! And if you’re having any troubles use this next song to help Ignite the fire! Cant wait to see you all in March, I would love to chat with you all some more about women’s confidence, just come and find me!!  Watch this video to ignite your confidence! It always inspires me!

xoxo,

Jasmine Horne 

SEPC Education Sessions Coordinator

It starts with you!

Igniting Women's Confidence: It starts with you!

Starting with me, I am Chelsea Poplin! I attend school at Wingate University, a small school located near Charlotte, North Carolina. I am majoring in Math / Business, and am planning on making that big walk across the stage in May. I am a proud sister of Sigma Sigma Sigma, becoming a member of this organization ignited my love for student involvement and I quickly became a part of multiple facets of campus. 

When I reflect on this year’s conference tagline, “Igniting Women's Confidence,” I realize what a powerful phrase it is. It insinuates that once your confidence is sparked that it can only grow from that point forward, never being extinguished. It reminds me of a quote I try to life my life by, I discovered it in seventh grade.  The quote is by Marianne Williamson and has two important parts.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

This portion of the quote has always resonated with me, reminded me that I am capable of doing anything that I set my mind to, and that there is nothing to be afraid of. A lot of times we are our own worst enemy and create doubt that does not need to exist.  This line of the quote shows that by having confidence in oneself you set the spark in motion.  

“It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

When I started my journey in college, I had decided instead of focusing on myself, I would focus on helping others shine. Through letting my light shine and encouraging others to believe in themselves, I began to gain an intangible confidence.  I am thankful for this confidence and the ability to share it with others, and I am ready to share my shine with all of you at SEPC. 

I am passionate about SEPC and everything that it embodies, because for over 60 years it has given women the ability to ignite their confidence by empowering women to positively impact those they surround themselves with. It gives women the opportunity to take on leadership positions, and serve a philanthropic cause to help women all across the world. We as women are all talented and wonderful, and as we work together to ignite one woman’s confidence at a time it will be truly revolutionary.  Image the bright light we will all hold at the end of the SEPC weekend, with hundreds of Panhellenic sisters providing support and knowledge to make a difference in our chapters, Panhellenic communities, college campuses, and communities.  By igniting our confidence we will become global thinkers, changers, and help others shine.