Love Yourself!
Who comes to your mind first when you think of the people you love? Is it your family members, your friends or your significant other? what about you? Unfortunately, the concept of self-life is often overlooked and misunderstood.
Self-love is important for leading a happy and healthy life. It is more than changing your hair, getting a new wardrobe, or attempting to redefine yourself. Self-love is gaining an appreciation for yourself through the physical, emotional, and spiritual support you provide to yourself. It’s not a fixed state but can grow over time through actions that lead to maturity. Establishing self-love can be a long journey, but it is a vital step to improving your mental health and overall happiness.
Here are a few tips that may help you along the way :
1) Forgive yourself :
Are you incredibly tough on yourself? Sometimes when you’re struggling for perfection, you end up overlooking the fact that you’re only human other you may tell yourself that you just holding yourself accountable. Too much self-deprecation can be harmful to mental health instead learning to forgive yourself a mistake to make and treating them as opportunities to grow is a step towards practicing self-love.
2) To be mindful:
Are the choice that you make for yourself really what you want or are they pushed on to you by society. Being introspective or mindful can give you a sense of clarity into who you are, how you think and what you want. It arms you with self-knowledge that you can use to move forward. Practicing mindfulness includes keeping a journal, meditating, or just taking some time for yourself.
3) Act on what you need to feel happy
Do you feel overwhelmed with needing to spend so much time with some of your friends or colleagues but feel bad for wanting to step away? It may end up draining your energy and leaving you exhausted. That’s why it’s so important to identify the things that make you feel better, acting on those need is a form of love and it can go a long way for your mental and emotional well-being.
4) Set boundaries
Are there are certain behaviors that you’re not willing to put up with. The purpose of setting boundaries is not to chuck people out of your life but rather to help you identify what is acceptable or welcomed in your life and what is not. Healthy boundaries help you filter out things that drain your energy emotionally, physically, or spiritually away.
5) Protect yourself
What type of people you surround yourself with? One way to practice self-love is to protect yourself. This means bringing people into your life who will be supportive and who contribute to your emotional, mental, and spiritual health instead of tearing it apart. Getting rid of fake friends or anyone who takes pleasure in your misery is important for your self-esteem and self-confidence.
6) Live intentionally
What makes your eyes light up, what inspires you. Sometimes it’s easy to just follow routine in your day-to-day life to the point where you stop giving it much thought but it’s important to live life with intention, to make choices to help you move towards your goals for example if you intend to live a peaceful and healthy life you need to make choices that support that like include learning how to meditate or starting to change your diet for the better
7) Show up for yourself
Do you scold yourself when you don’t finish everything you set out to do? There will be times when you don’t accomplish everything you plan to do but acknowledging the effort you have given and any amount you have done is important. It’s easy to focus on only your faults. We have this unfortunate quality to automatically blame ourselves when things go wrong, if you didn’t get a job or get into the college you picked. You tend to believe blame yourself first rather than objectively examining the situation. This could lead to lower self-esteem, more negative self-talk.
The truth is that one of the greatest source of strength is being able to have kindness and compassion for your own experiences in life. The more you consciously accept the compassion and kindness you want to offer yourself the more your self-esteem and confidence will grow.
8) Practice Self-care
Taking care of your basic needs is an active form of self-love ,even taking a few minutes out of your day to check in and provide yourself with what you need can help you feel a lot better. whether it’s soaking in a hot bath, eating something healthy or even working out. Practicing self-care can go a long way for your mental health and your happiness.
Society believes prioritizing our own needs is selfish, but this is not true. Despite everything that society has told you, taking care of your own needs is one of the most important things you can do. Your health and happiness are yours to protect and maintain, taking steps to do so is never selfish.
How do you practice self-love? Please share in the comments below.
