RM of BTS stood before the United Nations in 2018 and gave one of the greatest Self-Love speeches ever heard: speak yourself. But the moment that stopped me was one sentence, the one where he claimed the very label people used to dismiss him. Episode 93 of Self-Love Through Their Eyes goes inside the speech, the UNICEF Love Myself campaign that came a full year before it, and the story of a boy from a small town who stopped hearing his own voice, and found it again in front of the world. I was living in Hong Kong then, when BTS were the air we breathed, and this speech found me at the exact right time. We close with a practice to try this week with one person you love: one true thing, spoken in your own voice.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why "idol" was a put-down in K-pop, and what it meant that RM led with it at the United Nations
• The UNICEF Love Myself campaign that came before the speech, and the one belief it was built on
• What happened when a boy from Ilsan started seeing himself through other people's eyes, and how that story is ours too
• Why he calls his faults and mistakes the brightest stars in the constellation of his life
• The responsibility that comes with learning to love yourself, and why Self-Love was never meant to stay locked inside you
• A simple practice to try this week with one person you love: one true thing, given freely

Resources Mentioned:

• RM's full speech at the United Nations, official UNICEF video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTe4f-bBEKg
• Full speech transcript, from UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/we-have-learned-love-ourselves-so-now-i-urge-you-speak-yourself
• The LOVE MYSELF campaign, BTS x UNICEF: https://www.love-myself.org

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