SAMINA BAIG, HIGH ALTITUDE MOUNTAINEER

Samina Baig is the First Pakistani Woman to summit Mountain Everest along with 7 Highest Peaks in 7 Continents.

What does self-love mean to you?

I am brave and I am fearless: this is the only thought that keeps me going when I am in the mountains.

My definition of self-love is building the strength from within to achieve your dreams, regardless of what locality you belong to; the desire to be someone and the ultimate power which helps many women across the globe to help step forward and take a leap into the world.

How to overcome the challenges and enter into the world of self-love?

I love challenges and since I conquered Everest, I had this desire to motivate young girls who want to pursue their future in such extreme adventures that bring out their true inner capabilities. In order to accomplish your dreams, you have to be fearless. There are countless challenges which pose as a barrier in your success, but with true determination, you are unstoppable and can summit any mountain.

BAEMISAAL, FOUNDER @GOFIGUREMYFIGURE

Baemisaal is the founder of @gofiguremyfigure, a community based public platform celebrating all body shapes & sizes irrespective of gender, race or colour.

What is @gofiguremyfigure?

We are all emotional human beings. @gofiguremyfigure is an online platform which aims at bringing people together, by highlighting the common issues everyone faces, in terms of insecurities, fears, emotions and feelings, and attempts at making people realize they have more similarities than differences. Celebrating those resemblances and aiming to build a better world is the ultimate brain behind this community.

What does self-love mean to you?

Enough of the negativity, Enough of the hate.

My power began the moment I started accepting every part of my body, about who I am and how do I look like. For me, realizing I am perfect this way began with a lot of struggle, a journey defying all odds and silencing all harsh judgments; converting it into my strength pulled me forward which helped me realized my worth. Self-love is a feeling instilled within you from the core and that’s what I dream of, to inspire every individual to accept themselves the way they are and be content. Built peace within yourself, the world will be kind to you.

How do you unlock Happiness with the power of self-love?

Happiness isn’t just sunshine and rainbows. You define what happiness is. Every other day, we are being constantly reminded we are not good enough, and that fear combined with feelings of unworthiness – that is where you gotta take stand!

Set your goals, indulge in things that make you feel happy from the inside, be better than yesterday, but remember, when in doubt, do the opposite – that what drives me to exercise true self-love.

Fat-Shamed & Bullying: Does it change your opinion of YOU?

I have been dealing with body-shaming since a very young age. As I have grown in my profession, I am till date a victim of unsolicited opinion from people over how I look, and that is very wrong at so many levels. Everyone thinks that they own you and offer their judgments over how I should carry myself.

We need to understand that how one deals with shaming is totally dependent on mental well-being of an individual. We as humans need to build a world that is fair and free of negativity; a safe place that helps everyone celebrate their true self without being judged and that is where you truly unlock self-love for everyone.

CHAR ELLESSE, @GIRLSWILLBEBOYS_ FOUNDER 

Char is founder of @girlwillbeboys, an online platform blurring the lines between gender roles.

What does self-love mean to you?

Self-love is choosing yourself over and over and over again, regardless of who is telling you that you shouldn't or who is making you feel like you shouldn't.

My wakeup call to self-love was shaving my hair around six or seven years ago. It was the start of me creating a platform which encourages other people to share their stories of self-discovery and the importance of self-love. I want to encourage women and non-binary folk to make that initial move that helped me.

With any experience that you're going through, to know that you're not alone is key to helping you move forward with your journey. I feel where there’s a collective or shared stories, it helps you to feel seen and it validates your experience.

What would you change about the world?

One thing that I would change about the world is to remove all the toxicity targeted at marginalised people.

I feel like, especially as a woman, especially as a black woman, especially as a queer black woman, me existing is defiance. Period. I feel like the world was not built for people like me. It's rebellious for me to do whatever I want to do and to thrive while I'm doing it.

GINA MARTIN, POLITICAL ACTIVIST

 Gina is an author, activist, feminist and UN ambassador. She campaigned to change the law on upskirting.

What does self-love mean to you?

Self-love is permission to completely be yourself.

I think the key to unlocking its power is stepping into the things you care about really honestly. It's very difficult to respect and love yourself when you're doing things that aren't authentic or don't feel completely you. The key to self-love for me was figuring out what I cared about.

Once I did that, I respected myself and felt strong enough to start loving and taking care of myself far more.

Why is self-love a journey?

If you're at the beginning of your self-love journey, it's really important not to rush it. Don’t feel like you have to go from struggling to loving every part of yourself. Slowly put more time into the things you love, spend time with the people that really care about you, get rid of people that don't, and start to make specific positive actions in your life.

My journey to self-love probably began in 2017, when I launched a campaign to change the law and worked full-time. I took on far too much, so I decided to make taking care of myself, looking after my body, resting, all those things, part of my routine.

Loving yourself and respecting yourself is a practice in a world that tells you that you shouldn't. It has to be a little bit every day, so take it slow and be honest with yourself.

SOPHIE BUTLER, FITNESS COACH & ACTIVIST

Sophie is a fitness coach and activist who campaigns to support women and empower through education.

How can we learn to self-love?

The key to unlocking the power of self-love is questioning everything.

Throughout our lives we’ve been taught so much and we've picked up so many things subconsciously, so question why. If you wake up, look in the mirror and think, ‘I don’t like that’, ask, ‘Why?’. When you question yourself, you can move forward and start to unlock the mechanisms of overcoming that negative thought process.

I’d love to give more people the empowerment to question everything. That really is the most powerful thing. You can't make people love themselves, but you can help them to stop in their tracks and think why they don’t. Because when you think why you don’t fill your life with self-love, there really isn't a good enough answer.

How do you help others self-love?

I think helping other people wake up to the power of self-love really does start within yourself. When you’re starting your self-love journey, the most important thing is just to be kind with yourself. I don't think we all wake up one day and immediately jump to self-love.

I’d say my journey to self-love actually really began with my accident, when I became paralysed. Before I became a disabled woman, I always thought that I loved myself. But it wasn’t until I went through a life-changing event, until I became someone who is now living in a marginalised body and a body that isn’t often celebrated, that I really had to learn what self-love was.

CHARLIE CRAGGS, AUTHOR & TRANS ACTIVIST

Charlie is an author and trans rights campaigner. She uses her platform to make allies and break misconceptions.

What does self-love mean to you?

Self-love to me is about accepting yourself and loving yourself, even if there are things about yourself you don't like. For me, it’s about treating myself with care in a world that doesn't care about bodies like mine.

My journey with self-love began from a place of really not loving myself, like a lot of trans people and a lot of people in general. I think sometimes you need to reach rock bottom before you can start building yourself up again.

The advice that I’d give to someone at the beginning of their self-love journey is just to be kind to yourself. That's an act of self-love in itself. It's really important to understand that it's not a step at a time – it’s often just a toe at as time.

How do you help others self-love?

I try to help others wake up to the power of self-love by just being my most authentic self, especially for trans representation. I think it’s so important just to be boldly trans, be proudly trans.

Self-love is really pivotal in my life as an activist. I don't think I would be able to do what I do and encourage people to want to change the world if I didn't have this foundation of self-love.