What Valentines Day REALLY means...

On Valentines Day, I will be going out to the streets of Philadelphia with a great group of friends from Word On The Street Ministries to hand out blankets, socks, hats, and food! This year, I’m taking a new approach on what Valentine’s Day really means. For years, I used to think Valentines Day was only about sharing it with the one boy I loved and celebrating our time together. I am a hopeless romantic and have been for as long as I could remember. This year, I told myself it’s not about that at all. It’s about so much more. Although, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating your love with your significant other. I’m not saying there is but I think we, as a community, country and world, need to look at Valentines Day through a different lense.

It starts with loving yourself and who you were created to be. For awhile, I didn’t love who I was. In fact, I jumped at every opportunity to change it. I thought I was a second choice to others, not good enough, fearful and my insecurities also ate me alive. Through out the years, I have learned that all of my insecurities, most of my fears, came from finding “love” in all the wrong places. The love you’re looking for is not in that handsome boy, those fancy clothes, or in others opinions of who YOU are. The love you’re looking for, is in the one who created you and the person staring back at you in the mirror. It’s time for you to single out the great things you ARE and want to become and what God intended you to do in this life. That’s to love, and to be loved. Once you find those, meditate on that and you will finally find the love you were looking for.

After you have found your love in the right places, the next step is TO LOVE.  That’s loving those who need it most. Whether that’s the fragile homeless man on the corner you pass everyday on your way to work, the little girl you teach who has a horrible home life or those who are battling something we can’t even fathom to understand. Once I learned to love myself, flaws included, I learned to love those who need it most and not just myself.

There is a HUGE difference between loving yourself, and “looooooooving yourselffffff”. Loving yourself definitely means loving who you are and who you are going to become. BUT it also means that you’re not loving yourself selfishly. Looooooovvving yourselffffff means you’re ONLY loving you and if that’s what you’re doing right now, I suggest that you run as far as you can from that version of yourself. You’ll never find the love you’re looking for by loving yourself that way.

Okay, now that’s out of the way. Let’s get to it --- My passion for our world is to come together, and help one another. Regardless of what laws are passed by our president, the supreme court or secretary of education, it is OUR job, to keep America the land of hope. It is OUR job, to show love to those who need it most. It is OUR job to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. That includes the children growing up in public school districts, those who can’t pay their medical bills because they’re too high yet need those medications or surgeries to get a REAL chance at truly living. Its to fight for those who don’t have homes because they lost their jobs and can’t seem to find another one. Or, to fight for those who come to America to build a life of success for themselves and their families because all they have known in their lives, is poverty and depression.

How can we come together? How can we help another? Listen. It starts with the little things. Like hosting a Blanket Drive for those battling homelessness, so they do not fear the winter. Calling homeless shelters to see, if they have room for those we pass on the streets. Making Valentines Day cards for the elderly who live in assisted living facilities ALONE, who don’t receive visitors. It starts with, making capes for children in the hospital battling life threatening illnesses. Those children who feel weak and filled with fear for their future to show them… they are OUR superhero’s for being able to still fight at such a young age. That they are STRONGER, than they feel because WE can see it... If only they could too, maybe they wouldn’t feel as weak or live in such fear. That their battle will one day be a testimony to someone else to keep fighting.

It’s OUR job to create success in this country for others. It’s OUR job to lift others up. Remember, Valentines Day isn’t just about the romance we see on the hallmark channel. It’s so much more, and I hope you take the second to look away from the romance, and look towards our community and how you can show love to them this holiday.

If you’d like to #SpreadLove this Valentines Day, you can join Fearless Movement and Word On The Street Ministries by going to Philadelphia and serving our community. If you have plans, no worries! You can also help by either donating USED or NEW blankets, gloves, hats and socks, for those battling homelessness. Or, donate to Fearless Movement so that we can purchase more and more capes for our children who are in local hospitals by us. It’s time that YOU become the change, we rant on facebook about. It’s time, that we come together, and love one another.

God so loved the WORLD, not just God blesses America. Help bless ALL.

Another Reminder : International Epilepsy Awareness Day is FEBRUARY 13^TH! Wear purple to spread awareness for those battling #Epilepsy.

Contact us today for either volunteer opportunities or donations at thefearlessmovement@gmail.com or (856)-558-2385

Remember, our job is to feel loved and to be loved. Where are you looking for love?

Xoxo,

Ashley Kulikowski

Founder of Fearless Movement