What’s love got to do with it? It is all about love. Love is the engine that ignites and fuels it all.

It all starts with respecting ourselves enough and caring enough to do the right thing.  Being on a plane, we are instructed to put the oxygen mask on our face before we can assist the child passenger. The same applies in diabetes, as we need to attend to our internal needs first to be able help others.

As health care providers we see much pain in our patients that we instinctively want to help to relieve. We focus on the management of physical symptoms, but often do not have adequate time, resources, and skill sets to address the internal pain that we all know has negative impact on care outcomes.

I think that loving yourself is a two-way street, as it works the same for our patients as for us. As clinicians we cannot teach love if we do not know it. We can exemplify self-love through empathy and role modeling the behaviors we are advising our patients to do.  

Here are the top 15 ways we can love ourselves:

1. Do not allow your medical condition or other people to shape who you are.
2. Forgive yourself for not always doing what you are advised to do.
3. Reward yourself for trying, not just for results.
4. Think positively, as positive thoughts generate positive feelings and positive life experiences.
5. Just be yourself - accept how you feel instead of resisting it.  
6. Go slow, pay attention to a moment now, make that moment meaningful.
7. Say yes to new experiences and new information.
8. Think in percentages instead of always.
9. Believe. If you believe it will work out, you will see opportunities vs obstacles.
10. Unlearn ways and perspectives that are not getting you results you want.
11. Use physical activity every day to make you feel better.
12. Treat your existing body as you would the body you want to have.
13. Speak about yourself positively instead of putting yourself down.
14. Do not compare yourself to others. Theodore Roosevelt said, "Comparison is the thief of joy.”
15. Get out of your comfort zone.

We cannot feel better if we stay where we are. Finally, love is all about happiness. About 50 percent of our happiness is genetically determined, and about 10 to 20 percent is life circumstances like age, health and occupation. The final 30 percent is within our immediate control. We have the capacity to create love and happiness with our thoughts and actions. Happy Valentines to ourselves and others!