Love is in the Air!

Long after the hearts and flowers of February are packed away, March brings us spring and the love continues. There’s a line from a Dionne Warwick song: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” People may define love differently depending on what they’ve lived through, lost, been taught and what they’ve been brave enough to unlearn. Over time, our collective definitions shift. Things that were once judged harshly are now more understood. Things that were once silent are now spoken out loud. In many ways, that’s the evolution of love—an expansion of what we’re willing to accept, who to include, and how to show up. Because if we’re being honest, love isn’t just a feeling, it’s a decision, a practice and a way of being.

We use the word love often, yet it’s anything but simple. It lives in our relationships. Love shows up in families—sometimes beautifully, sometimes imperfectly. Love can be the way we treat our neighbors, even when we don’t fully understand each other. It can be the pride we feel in our work when we’re serving with purpose. And above all, there’s a bigger kind of love—love for humanity—that asks us to remember we belong to each other.

What is your definition of love? How does love look when no one is watching? How do you express it—to your partner, your children, your friends, your neighbors, to humanity in the everyday moments that make up your life?

There’s another kind of love that we don’t always talk about enough: Self-love. Not the “treat yourself” version, but the kind that honors your needs. Speaking to yourself with kindness, creating boundaries, letting yourself rest, forgiving yourself, taking responsibility for your healing and choosing to believe you are worthy without needing to “earn it” are all ways to truly love yourself.

You can’t pour love into the world if you’re running empty. You can’t lead with compassion if you’re constantly abandoning yourself. You can’t build a meaningful life while ignoring the very person living it. We’ve all heard the question: If you don’t love yourself, how can you love others? And it’s true, but it goes deeper. If you don’t take care of yourself, how do you expect to take care of others? If you don’t honor your own heart, how do you stay open enough to honor someone else’s? If you don’t choose your wellbeing, how long can you keep showing up for the people you care about?

Here is a powerful question to sit with: Am I the best human I could possibly be?

Don’t answer quickly, take moments, minutes or hours if you need to. Let the truth rise gently then ask yourself: Could I do better? Do I want to do better? When I’m doing better, how does humanity benefit? When one person chooses to be more loving, the ripple effect benefits everyone.

Coaching programs ask questions like this and reconnect people with who they are beneath the pressure of expected roles and judgement. When you know, honor and care for yourself, you can love from a fuller place, serve without resentment and show up for others with compassion.

Faithfully love yourself first, surround yourself with people you treasure and reach out to those in need. Share your light because it was never meant to stay hidden.