Hi friends,
I just wanted to share how and why I started Rina Lee. I think many might wonder how my brand values - Self-love, Strength & Courage was derived. I feel it’s important to communicate this to you because it’s the foundation of why I do what I do and the inspiration behind my creations. So I will be sharing it in 3 parts, starting with my Self-love journey.
What triggered my self-love journey?
A failed long-term relationship, followed by a series of failed relationships.
You know how sometimes when you are in a long-term relationship, you kind of lose your sense of self? (Okay, to be fair I didn't have a strong sense of self to begin with.) You spend a lot of time together and your identity changes to match his. His interest becomes yours, his likes and dislikes becomes yours. You start compromising your own needs. So after things ended, I had a lot of time to rediscover who I truly was. A lot of time was spent reflecting and rediscovering my own interests and hobbies.
But I will say, my journey of discovery was met with a few hard lessons. Remember at the beginning, I mentioned what triggered my self-love journey? I said a failed long-term relationship, followed by a series of failed relationships. I go on the dating app after things ended (as most people would, haha). I meet all these guys, one after another, and they all lead to nothing. They all want to keep things casual, and the moment they sense you want something more, they bolt faster than Usian Bolt.
I thought to myself, why do I keep attracting men who won’t or want to commit? I started noticing a pattern.
It’s because before I could love others, I needed to love myself first. I didn’t see my worth, my own value. I didn’t have strong boundaries - always saying yes when deep down I didn’t want to. My time and energy was always made available to others, as and when they needed it, and never pouring into my own. There was an imbalance of giving and receiving.
I didn’t love myself enough to attract men who were whole within themselves, so there is an energetic misalignment. You attract who you are. If I wanted to be in a healthy, loving partnership, I’ve got to be that version that treats myself how I’d like to be treated - with kindness, love and respect. It’s like you're sending signals to the Universe that this what I want, and the Universe listens.
My self-love journey is an ongoing process, it took me years to get to where I am today, to learn to love and respect myself that is the version that I’m proud of. I strongly believe that once you learn to love yourself, you'll transform your life. It starts from within. Once you start working on yourself internally, so too will your external reality.
And with that, I'll end my post here. I hope this inspires you in some way. And if it did, share it with someone who you’d think might benefit from. Stay tuned for Part 2 where I’ll share what triggered my career switch and how I found the courage to take that leap! Till then, stay Queen!
xx Rina
