SELF LOVE CLUB

This month, six local personalities share what self-love means to them. Whether it’s about taking things slow or finding Joy in the simple things, one thing's for sure taking care of oneself has never been more important

- AMANDA LEO

ON TAKING YOUR DREAMS SERIOUSLY
JEMIMAH WEI
Writer

The first time I moved to the States was in 2019 for my MFA at Columbia — moving was ridiculously stressful, but I was incredibly excited, given that moving to New York had literally been my dream since I was 18. Taking that leap to uproot myself and move was the biggest investment I’d made in my writing life. And I absolutely loved being able to write, talk about writing, read, and meet other writers in the city.

Self-love, to me, is about the way you approach your relationship with yourself and your loved ones. The act of taking yourself — your hopes, dreams, desires, and needs — seriously, and affording yourself dignity, is crucial. Treating your dreams, no matter how unlikely, as a reality that you have to work towards, rather than allowing yourself to dismiss your own dreams as frivolous or impossible, and holding yourself to the standards of being the person you need to be in order to achieve those dreams.

And the other side of that is nourishing great relationships, approaching them with care, not competition, and investing in love in all forms — friendship, familial, romantic. I really do believe that our relationships with each other is what ennobles life. No matter what the world thought of the impractical nature of pursuing art, my closest friends and family have always believed in me, even when I didn’t necessarily believe in myself. Even though I’m geographically uprooted, home is still very close to my heart. I’ve never felt isolated even when physically alone, and that’s gone a long way towards maintaining sanity even when things were extremely tough.