I love myself… a lot!
February. The month of love.
Don’t forget the one that never leaves.
Yours.
Dear Valentine’s Day cynics,
Yes — you.
Those of you who roll your eyes at the little love fest, who get sick of the chocolates (or have to buy your own), those who aren’t debuting or renewing a romance and know very well there are no diamonds or roses on the horizon.
And maybe also for the passionate and partnered…and for those who feel especially vulnerable and isolated during these days…
For all of you — the single and the accompanied — I chose the month of love to launch Heart by Cristina.
A project that began by accident, one night when I was half broken — or broken and a half — and felt the need to listen to and understand my own heart.
My emotions couldn’t find words, so I started to paint… I felt deep in the mud, as we say in Colombia, and I realized that only I could pull myself out of that place.
That there exists a love that does not leave — a love that lives in the chest, and whose strength depends on how much we feed it and the wings we allow it to grow.
That’s when I decided I needed to learn how to love myself.
To seek out that (self) love that helps hold you up when no one else can.
The love that stays.
That hugs you and forgives you even when you don’t like yourself very much.
This heart — hugging itself — does not speak of isolation.
It speaks of presence.
Of solidarity.
And it is a challenge.
I love myself.
I hold myself.
And I am more than enough.
Throughout February, I will be sharing my first illustrations — more than 150 of them — and their reflections.
Hearts that feel, doubt, get angry, break, rebuild, and remake themselves.