SHARK TANK APPROVED 
“Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall in love with a gorgeous redhead.” Lucille Ball
I love Lucy. Really, I do.
Side note: She wasn’t a natural redhead but who cares. She rocked it.
In the realm of notoriously and militantly genuine and unique redheads, Lucy was a pioneer. And, she’s right. The men (or women) who fall in love with us are lucky creatures, indeed. All that being said, though, there’s something we too often forget to love ourselves. Fortunately, self-love is within reach for each of us and there are steps that we can take to attain the value for ourselves that each of us so richly deserves. Loving ourselves is the single most important thing we can do to achieve optimum happiness and satisfaction in our daily lives.
1. Treat yourself with kindness. Nurture and nourish your body and spirit with things that make you feel good and fill you up. Whether you take a yoga class or go for a run in the park, splurge on that gorgeous pair of heels you’ve been eying for months, or indulge in the frothy sugary million-calorie drink you love at Starbucks instead of your normal half-caf coffee with a splash of skim milk, take care of your gorgeous, shimmery redhead self so that you have enough light to not only brighten your own life but glow out into your family, community, and the world.
2. Use positive and accepting words when talking to (and thinking of) yourself. Whether you make a mistake at work, accidentally cut someone off in traffic, gap your bangs when trying to give yourself a haircut, or accidentally pour bleach instead of laundry detergent into a load of dark clothes, you are not an idiot, or ugly, or anything bad at all. You are a human, a beautiful, flawed creature with the capacity for so much light and dark. You are a redhead, a member of a rare and wonderful group of distinctive and individual characters.
You are you. Beautiful. Special. Deserving.
3. Take time for yourself. “Gingers have no souls.” I don’t know to whom I should attribute this terribly misguided and unkind bit of wisdom, but we’ve all heard it. If you’re like me, after all of the years of being singled out for your hair, your freckles, your freakishly well-developed vocabulary (ooooh, so that’s only me…), and your pale, sensitive skin, you actually wear your heart (and your soul/spirit) a little bit closer to the surface than most people. All of the hours of taking care of and feeling for other people can completely zap our internal energy stores and leave us no time to devote to ourselves. So, take that bubble bath and read a good book, sip some wine, and remember to lock the bathroom door, hide in a closet for 15 minutes and eat a Reese’s cup, drive somewhere just for the sake of rolling down the windows and turning your music up loud. There’s a reason your red hair glows on a sunny day when it’s fluttering in the wind from your rolled down windows.
RELATED: 13 Signs You Know How To Rep The Ginge
4. Live fearlessly. If I haven’t said it enough yet, you are so spectacular. You are already courageous in that you walk down the street every day with your lovely red head held high, self-secure in the unique and wondrous qualities that make you, you. What reason is there to fear? Fear is the manifestation of our uncertainties, our excuse for not taking the big, important risks, our method for coping with all of those things we don’t understand. It will not keep us from pain, for there is hurt, even in safety, but it may keep us from surprise, wonder, and great joy. Go skinny-dipping (we all have cellulite – who cares?), rock that edgy pixie haircut, try an aerial yoga class, get the tattoo you’ve secretly always wanted.
READ: 12 Reasons Every Redhead Should Love Lucille Ball
5. Love with abandon. This is where Lucy comes in. In order for someone to fall madly in love with us, we have to be madly in love with ourselves and capable of loving madly in return. Love is everywhere. And, what is beautiful and true and scary is that it is waiting out there for all of us. If you haven’t found it yet, keep your eyes (and heart, always your heart) open. Until then, appreciate and learn from all of the other loves around you. Your friends, family, the sweet moments you witness between strangers, the songs on the radio that say all of the things you’re waiting for someone to say to you.
Be patient.
Be kind.
Live the life you love, guided by love, and always attentive to the possibility of love, and everything you are seeking will find you.
All good things will come in their time.
Namaste, kindred spirits. Redheads unite.
Rock it like a Redhead!
