So, you want to know about self love… I am so so proud of you.
First let me tell you, reading or even practicing self love doesn’t make you a selfish person. (Read that again!)
Honestly, like most people say it out there, self-love isn’t an overblown concept. Rather, it’s quite the necessity in a period where people lack empathy for themselves and for others.
If the idea of loving yourself intrigues you, you have reached the perfect place. This think-piece will let you in on all the secrets about its benefits and the ways to do it… and neither of them is as extreme as sologamy.
So, if you’re ready to shower some love on yourself, let’s get down to business here…
What is Self Love?
Summary
Self-love defines the different methods to appreciate and love oneself. It helps you accept yourself the way you are and strive harder at your own pace.
Some believe self-love is a way to feel good in life. They assume they must listen to motivational speeches, go shopping, or get a makeover to practice. However, these activities only bring you instant gratification which doesn’t last long.
They make you feel great, but how long can you practice such activities to continue the positivity inside you. Will you shop every day until you’re broke? How long will you feel happy about a fresh haircut? And at some point, you’ll finish watching all the motivational videos available online.
So, self-love isn’t just about what feels good. It’s the act of appreciating and loving oneself. These actions must mature you and fortify your physical, mental, and spiritual development.
When you practice self-love, you build love and acceptance both for your strengths and weaknesses. It helps you not feel ashamed of your shortcomings and cut yourself some slack when you need it.
Though self-love is different for everyone, it’s the little things we struggle to do for ourselves. It’s an important part of your life as it supports your mental health.
Wondering what self-love looks like? Let’s take a quick peek here…
Examples of self love
Though the idea of self-love is popular among teens and young adults, yet most people aren’t aware of it. A majority don’t understand this is an important part of human life and can make revolutionary changes.
So, for a quick introduction, here are some ways to show self-love…
1. Not ignoring yourself for others’ happiness.
2. Knowing and accepting nothing less than what you deserve.
3. Prioritizing your happiness
4. Making time for yourself in the day
5. Not feeling ashamed or guilty when you care for yourself.
However, people are torn apart between the concept of self-love and selfishness. If you’re confused too, let’s fix that right here…
Self Love vs Selfishness
Some people assume self-love is a sorry excuse for being selfish. But that depends on what a person practices or beliefs. Self-love actually is a healing method and it doesn’t hurt anybody.
Selfishness is a conscious attempt to hurt others for self-centric desires. So, let’s know the rest here…
| Self-love | Selfishness |
| It’s a form of indirect love and compassion for others. It focuses on your relationships. | It doesn’t aim for others’ welfare at all. The main focus is you. |
| In self-love, though you care for yourself, it’s a very mild approach. | In selfishness, you feel a never-ending thirst for care and attention like narcissists. |
| Self-love is a peaceful and modest way of showing love to oneself. | Selfishness is an agitated feeling and represents your emotional volatility. |
| This requires you to be honest with yourself. | In this, you may try to control and manipulate others. |
| This is an unconditional form of love. | This is a conditional act both to oneself and others. |
1. Self-love loves is compassionate, but selfishness isn’t
When you practice self-love, you learn to love yourself to serve others better. If you don’t love yourself, you can’t love others. If you’re a fuzzy ball of negativity, you’ll only focus on others… negatives!
You accept your flaws in self-love and you also make others believe that their flaws don’t hurt them… they are also the best version of themselves.
Selfishness, on the other hand, is when people love only themselves and have no consideration for others’ thoughts and feelings. They give themselves time to recharge but they don’t share any positivity. They keep it all to themselves.
2. Self-love is controlled attention for yourself, but selfishness isn’t
In self-love, you DO prioritize yourself but it’s a humble approach. You don’t go overboard with it and try to not attract attention with the “self-love” mantra as some teens and even young adults do unknowingly. It’s a form of secure and steady love and nobody can accuse you of “You only focus on yourself!”
Being selfish means that you have an unquenchable thirst for care and attention. This is quite comparable to narcissistic traits. At any moment, you’re your priority and it’s never about others.
You also want others to highlight you and your needs but not vice versa. You can’t bear to consider others or step down to make them comfortable.
For instance, you follow veganism and won’t attend a party because they’ll serve non-vegan food along with vegan food.
3. Self-love is calm and selfishness is moody
Self-love is linked with peaceful emotions. You never get enraged, agitated, or excited about your surroundings or yourself. If you’re wrong, you won’t mind when others constructively criticize you.
You’ll always seek ways to grow. You’ll be well-aware and mindful of your weakness or be open to knowing and changing for the better with others’ help.
However, when you’re selfish, your emotions and feelings mostly slip out of your control. If you’re aware of being weak, you feel agitated and emotionally unstable.
You’ll even take others’ constructive criticism as insults. You mostly have the wrong notion that everyone wishes the worst for you.
4. Self-love needs honesty, selfishness is deceiving
To practice self-love, you need agonizing openness and honesty about yourself. You can’t hold yourself back or judge yourself and must accept the presence of every flaw.
Only then can you eagerly and willingly seek ways to improve yourself from the core. You must accept that you’ll commit mistakes and not dwell in denial. You must honestly make efforts to learn from them.
If you’re selfish, you’ll always fear losing the upper hand because of your mistakes. You may even plot schemes to ensure this doesn’t happen.
You either give excuses to hide your mistakes or attack others with their past to shut them down. Most selfish people play the victim card for attention and save themselves from major issues.
5. There aren’t conditions in self-love, but they exist in selfishness
In self-love, you unconditionally love all of yourself… even when you’re not qualified or successful, don’t have enough inspiration or expertise, and even when you’re a complete wreck.
You love your vulnerable parts and treat them tenderly, even when the world mistreats them. You know these parts will eventually support your growth.
You love yourself when you’re skinny and when you’re fat with lots of cellulite and stretch marks. You focus on your health to stay strong and fit.
In selfishness, your love for yourself and others is conditional. You have unrealistic expectations from everyone including yourself. You’ll hate your plump body and reach out for in-trend figures despite it being unhealthy.
You’ll also take others’ motivation to feel good about yourself but never return it.
So, are you interested in self-love techniques? If yes, let’s get to work here…
How to self love? (How to practice self love?)
If you want to practice self-love, you have a variety of easy ways. You don’t need any extravagant expenses to show yourself some love.
However, you must stay consistent because a night or a week’s worth of self-love won’t make the magic. So, if you’re ready to build a good relationship with yourself, let’s get going…
1. Stop taking your body for granted
Your body is a sacred temple and each part of it blesses you with something in your life. Begin the day with grooming techniques like shaving or applying sunscreen or clipping nails.
After a long day, take your time to massage your skin with moisturizers. Show gratitude to each body part from your toes to hair tips.
2. Create a lovable community
Think about all the people you know and identify what kind of feelings they instill in you. Get in touch with people with whom you’ve made happy memories.
Create a different contact list for these people. Whenever you need support and love, reach out to them. If they’re busy, remember how they motivated you.
3. Create a list of positives
We always focus on the problems in life. You whine about what’s wrong with your loved ones… but how many times do you say, “At least this part of my life is going smoothly”.
For true self-love, focus on what works for you in the present situation. Change the focus to ease your mind and find suitable solutions. Every day, list what went well for you.
4. Eat healthy food mindfully
Practice eating healthy not just because “you need nutrition”. Do it because your body deserves the energy.
If you ever have junk food, don’t shame yourself later on. Just remember to not go overboard. This applies for both the times, i.e., when you really crave your favorite dish, don’t hold yourself back either.
5. Tidy up your cupboards
Your cupboard is piled with old objects you hardly use. Clean your cupboards as it’s a form of therapy. Let go of the things that remind you of bad memories.
What about the photo frame your ex gifted you? Do you really need it? Declutter your space and you’ll also make space for new things in your cupboard and mind.
6. Stop comparing yourself with others
Your distant cousin is a business magnate and you still work 9-5. Your BFF is getting married and you’re still single. We easily put ourselves down to what we see around us.
But did you ever notice what you have better than them? You didn’t because they never showed those weaknesses. Don’t dwell in comparisons because you’re unique.
7. Tread on the path of spirituality
Spirituality isn’t about being religious. It’s about everything you believe and have faith in… this is one of the major pillars of self-love.
In the path of spirituality, your intuition will help you decide the best for yourself. You’ll know yourself from a different perspective and learn to appreciate different sides of yourself better.
8. Invest in what you excel
Do you know your strengths? If yes, put more effort into enhancing your skills. This will boost your self-confidence and nurture you psychologically.
If you don’t know what you excel in, it’s time to explore yourself. Try out everything possible to find what might be your best skill. This will also boost your endorphins and build your finest version.
9. Recharge in your cozy corner
In this whole wide world, which place makes you the happiest? Think about the place you go when you’re down and need some alone time? It might be your bedroom or a park.
Every day spend at least 15 minutes in that place quietly and soak in the soothing vibrations and energy of the area.
10. Let go of the past mistakes
You probably committed many mistakes in the past just like any other human being. From time to time, those memories haunt you and sour your mood.
They also lower your self-esteem, so they clearly have a major negative impact on your life. Take time to slowly cleanse yourself from these memories. Forgive yourself because you deserve that.
11. Accept that you can’t meet unrealistic expectations
People around you project their insecurities on you. This society will ask you to be the perfect parent, child, sibling, employee, citizen, and so much more. It’s in human nature to ask for more and never feel satisfied.
Don’t judge yourself with these standards. Ignore some of them, otherwise, you’ll lose yourself to depression and self-hate.
12. Understand that not everything is controllable
You can only control how you deal with your life, not others, their decisions, or behavior. So, we’ll always have bad days as long as we live. So, don’t expect things to always go your way.
Rather, focus on how you react to particular situations. Do your best and then let fate play out.
13. Don’t feel ashamed about taking care of yourself
You have a huge family and endless commitments. However, amidst everything you forget God’s greatest gift: you. You fear being called selfish and overwork yourself at others’ service.
But does satisfying others all the time make you happy? Get over this fear of others’ thoughts and prioritize your life when you need to.
14. Keep the emotional check-ins rolling
Let’s be honest, not everyone can afford to seek therapists due to time, finances, or service availability issues. However, you can address your emotions yourself.
Sit down on your couch with your favorite beverage and find out how you’re feeling lately. Try to find out if you feel negative and why. Work on the causes accordingly.
15. Confront the negatives
When your mind is full of negativity, confront the thoughts. When you say “I’ve achieved nothing”, does this thought push you to be a better person? Or do you feel far worse later?
If the negative self-talk doesn’t enhance your life, stop that immediately. Distract yourself with something that cheers your mood. Stop abusing yourself regularly.
16. Shrink your circle
In your social circle, you have many kinds of people. Some are your greatest cheerleaders, some always criticize you, while others neither mean any harm nor are supportive.
Cut your connection from the people that negatively impact your growth. Don’t waste time on such people. Rather, in a smaller circle, you’ll be frequently in contact with the supporters.
17. Stay committed to your rituals
If you begin your self-love journey today, promise yourself to stay true to yourself. You can’t bluff yourself with cheat days in this journey.
Some days you’ll feel extremely lazy and feel like skipping skincare and journaling. However, that’s the worst enemy of your path to self-love. Sheer dedication and persistence alone can help you through.
18. Reminisce about your journey
Go down memory lane and relive all the troubles you faced. You won in some situations… while in others, you failed miserably and learned life lessons.
If you observe your journey properly, it was full of lessons and tests throughout. So, whenever you feel low, reminisce about the past and take pride in how you grew with time. Have faith because you still have a lot of growing-up to do.
19. Embrace all body types
Each of us idealizes a particular beauty standard. Lip thickness, waist size, height, skin tone, hair type… we hardly love what we own and try to morph ourselves into Instagram bodies.
However, even if you change your appearance, you won’t be happy. So, accept yourself as you are now… because someone out there idealizes your beauty.
20. Never stop learning
Do you own all the skills your parents have? Possibly not, but did you give them a try? Brainstorm about the plethora of such interesting things and practice until you’re a prodigy on your own terms.
Oh, and you don’t have to learn professional skills only… it can be anything. So, if you can’t knit, you’ll love it when you finally learn to.
21. Control your consumption
Happiness and success don’t lie in a life full of excess luxury. Take a minute to consider a minimalist lifestyle. Appreciate all the things you already own.
Stop yourself from buying unnecessary items as they always clutter your space. You may love it when you buy something for the first time… but the novelty wears off soon and you can’t appreciate that enough.
In your social media, do you follow particular people or pages that post negative quotes? Do you have infinite memes about your life saved?
These things make your mind more negative and prevent you from loving yourself. Unfollow such pages and people, delete the memes and cut yourself some slack. Allow positivity to enter your life instead.
23. Calm your inner critic
Our inner critics are too loud for our own good. Sometimes we even believe this inner voice more than the reality. It bars you from dreaming big and taking any leap of faith.
Lower this voice inside you and stop believing in everything you assume. Take a neutral perspective and be a fair judge.
24. Let go of perfectionism
Since childhood, you probably saw classmates that got perfect scores in everything they did. Your parents probably asked you to get inspiration from them.
Currently, probably you also chase perfection… but why? Nothing is perfect in this life, so stop chasing something imaginary.
Remember, perfection lies in imperfection… After all, that makes you human!
25. Leave behind toxic people
If a loved one tries to control or manipulate you, you won’t instantly run away from them. You’re emotionally so attached to them, yet they hurt you until you bleed.
Don’t entertain any toxic relationship in your life. Even if this person is the love of your life, communicate how they affect you. If they can’t change, leave them.
22. Take milestone celebrations seriously
Whether you get your first job or learn to make breakfast… if you’re changing for the better, that calls for a celebration.
Even if others take your milestones for granted, don’t ignore these small moments of happiness. Treat yourself to a good meal to appreciate your hard work. Don’t forget to be proud of yourself.
23. Push yourself for something new
Once you reach a comfortable stage in life, you won’t desire to take risks. However, in the long run, you forget to appreciate those accomplishments and even take them for granted.
When you take the next risk, you doubt yourself even when you’re capable. So, take risks regularly to boost your confidence and avoid such insecurities.
24. Accept the different parts
You’re different from everyone in the world. Sometimes, people compare your lacking sides with others and insist you change. Other times you feel insecure about not being like someone else.
Stop this and appreciate the difference that makes you an individual and nobody’s clone. Unless an aspect about you hurts your life, don’t try to change or upgrade yourself.
25. Work on your passions
You may not want to work on your passions in early life. Many people convince you to focus on your professional life and leave the passions for later… when you have enough financial aid.
You probably believe it won’t work out now without valid reasons. However, you won’t have enough zeal later and finally give up on everything. So, chase them right away.
26. Stick to your goals
If you have goals, you’ll also face setbacks in your path. Only people without dreams face zero challenges. So, try all over and patiently fight till the end.
You won’t ever reach a single destination if you give up every time. Support yourself when things don’t work out and motivate yourself whenever the going gets tough.
27. Do everything with intent
Don’t follow a routine or this list without understanding the reasons. Otherwise, you have a higher risk of feeling low. You’ll drown your self-hate for following something unreasonably.
So, whatever you do or decide in life, ensure you give it a good thought and focus on your reasons. Don’t be others’ puppet and follow them mindlessly.
28. Be respectful and loving
If you treat others with love, care, affection, and respect, you’ll also feel optimistic. Treat others the way you desire to be treated. However, don’t expect a lot from them.
Let them decide how they’ll behave with you. Focus on being a positive influence on others’ lives and the universe will return the favor.
29. Spend time with your loved ones
When times are tough, make sure you don’t shut yourself in. Reach out to your friends and family and let their positivity heal you.
Surrounding yourself with people during testing times encourages you to try harder even without sharing a word.
In your childhood, you asked your friend to tag along for moral support when you talked with your teacher… It’s similar to that feeling.
30. Learn to say NO
Sometimes it’s hard to abide by everyone’s request, yet you accept them because you don’t want to be painted badly. You inconvenience yourself just to keep others satisfied but it hurts you.
Refuse people when you really can’t take their request. If you force yourself, you won’t perform well… and they’ll not appreciate that either. Set boundaries to protect yourself.
31. Pen down your feelings
When your mind is full of thoughts and you can’t go to sleep, write them down. Neither lose sleep over nasty thoughts nor pour them out in another person.
After you write them, shred the paper and burn it. You don’t want anyone to find evidence of your dark feelings. This also works when you feel nobody will understand you.
32. Spend distraction-free time
Every night before sleep, spend screen-free time. Let your eyes rest away from the blue light of the TV or smartphone and your ears away from any noise.
Immerse in skincare or read a book to not get bored. You may also write your gratitude journal or make a bucket list during this hour. Go to sleep after you’re done for better sleep.
33. Don’t seek validation
In my childhood, I used to study to make my parents happy. Honestly, they either said “Keep it up” for good results or “You can’t afford to laze around” for bad results.
They never tried to learn how I felt about or perceived my low scores. Nobody will truly understand your battles, so don’t wait for their validation.
34. Embrace the real you
On this planet, nobody is happy every single moment of their life. Because real humans are full of flaws and glitches. Even if others ask you to be flawless, did they achieve that yet?
I bet they can’t and neither can you. So, allow yourself to be a real human. Accept that you may commit mistakes, misunderstand, and even harbor ill feelings.
35. Let out your creativity
I believe everyone is gifted with a creative and artistic side. It might be writing, painting, singing, playing instruments, building, clay modeling, or creating a new recipe.
It depends on what catches your heart and makes you feel better. Even if you feel unsure, try out things that attract you. Even if you fail, it’ll be a great experience.
36. Work on your trauma
This one needs lots of dedication, but no matter how hard it seems, you must still do it. Everyone was treated badly at some point in their life. Nobody deserves mistreatment and life-long insecurities.
So, take this chance and heal all the wounds and erase the bad memories. If you need, seek loved ones or an expert for support.
37. Appreciate the moment
Every single day, you’re either immersed in how you’ll deal with the next day or overthinking about your past… It’s the same story for every moment. So, you miss all the opportunities to make good memories.
Be grateful for living till this moment and surviving all the bad times. Your present is the most beautiful, so relish every drop of it.
38. Follow a gratitude journal
At the end of each day, write the 5 things you’re most grateful about in your day. End your days on a positive note instead of overthinking the negatives.
If you’re not big on writing, then try out vlogging… it won’t take you more than 5 minutes. Deep inside, we all take the small good things for granted, so bring the change.
39. Be your own inspiration
Remember how your friends feel loved when you support them. Try that out for yourself and indulge in positive self-talk regularly before sleep and after waking up in the morning.
Speak to yourself just as you’ll uplift a loved one on their bad day. If you can show the brighter side to others, why can’t you do the same for yourself?
40. Complete your sleep cycle
Most people in the current era don’t understand the necessity of sleep. People are so busy and stressed that the quality of sleep declines.
You sleep late at night and wake up before others in the morning to balance your life. However, this hampers your physical and mental health. So, try to get adequate sleep and stick to a routine.
41. Invest in physical activities
Physical activities may include something energetic like high-intensity exercises or something relaxing like yoga and breathing exercises. So, don’t feel intimidated because you gotta run a mile.
If you feel you don’t have time to join the gym or yoga classes, take the stairs and avoid commuting for short distances. Exercise also boosts endorphins that act as a stress-reliever.
Take care of your body and it’ll thank you throughout your life.
42. Defy the negative self-talk
When you feel bad about yourself, try to counter that with positive facts. Remember all the times nobody believed in you and you still succeeded.
Identify the root of the negative narratives to stop them for good. Understand why these narratives matter. Confront your thoughts and if you think this feels like you’re crazy… Well, go crazy to sustain your mental health.
43. Be compassionate when you screw up
Everyone can be optimistic until they mess up. That’s when you need the most support, but apparently, you attack yourself when you’re broken.
However, do you think it’s fair to hurt someone that can’t defend themselves? Never… yet that’s how you treat yourself in dire situations. Try to treat yourself delicately during tough times.
44. Ask for help more often
Whenever you need help, don’t shy away. You won’t be inferior if you seek others’ guidance. When you’re stuck in a project, ask for a senior’s help. If you can’t take care of your baby, ask your spouse to take over.
Everyone needs support once in a while so don’t feel ashamed.
45. Don’t hurry with anything
When you approach your dreams and desires, don’t rush as it may worsen a situation. Slow down and relish every step and hurdle. Take time to find and apply solutions.
If something doesn’t work, trust in the small steps. If you fight every day a little bit, you’ll reach your desired destination eventually. If you hurry, you may mess up big time and lose your chances for good.
46. Focus on how people love you and embrace that
When things go wrong and you seek a loved one, remember how they support you. They love you whether you’re broken or lost, they always find the light in your darkness.
Try to be like them and stop blaming yourself. Learn to love yourself from them. If they can find something positive about you, you can too because you know your story far better.
47. Never ignore your fears
Every individual fears something in their life. It might be being betrayed, letting down loved ones, failing in life, and so on. However, most people ignore their fears.
Try to understand your fear and hunt its roots. Get rid of things that make you anxious slowly. You may not address them all too quickly… but take your time to eventually defeat your fears.
48. Believe in your capabilities
In life, you’re faced with several situations that cloud you with self-doubt. You doubt if you can decide correctly for yourself. However, you forget that you’re in this position in life only because you’re a decent decision-maker, if not great.
Further, good decisions are usually the result of confidence in your intuition. So trust yourself more because you can do it.
49. Grab all opportunities
Many of us lose golden opportunities in life as we think we aren’t suitable for them. However, every opportunity life presents you can be yours. Unless you try it out, you can’t be sure.
So, don’t wait for the perfect timing. The best opportunity won’t say “I’m yours”, rather work to seize every opportunity and you’ll soon reach the pinnacle.
50. Process all feelings equally
When you’re happy, you celebrate and share the joy boundlessly. So, why do you suppress your sorrows? Treat your emotions with equal compassion.
If you’re afraid, hug someone to feel protected. If you’re sad, scream and sob into the pillow. If you’re angry, punch the pillow. Let it all out for good… otherwise, the emotions will sour your life.
51. Fake boldness when you can’t
If you have stage fright or can’t express yourself in front of new people, try to speak confidently. Casually join in a group conversation when you have ideas. Speak your mind and it might help out others.
This one’s quite challenging, so you might feel uncomfortable. In that case, pretend to be confident… just as they say fake it till you make it.
52. Get rid of the name-calling
When you feel frustrated, you mutter “I’m such a klutz.” Stop demeaning yourself verbally or mentally. Not to scare you, but the entire world awaits to put you down.
In fact, some people practice such sentences as fillers to feel less embarrassed. But in reality, things don’t work like that. Your attitude towards yourself shows others how to treat you, so stop that.
53. Practice meditation
Loving-Kindness meditation aka LKM helps to boost your kindness and empathy for yourself and others. It includes various breathing exercises and positive affirmations.
This will help you to lower your expectations of yourself and stop judging yourself. This will help you build healthy relationships with others and yourself. You’ll attract positivity if you persistently practice it.
54. Escape or take “me-time”
When you feel drained and can’t meet others’ expectations, take time for yourself. Recharge yourself on a vacation (or local staycation), return with a positive mindset, and resume working with zeal.
However, if you’re a new parent, this might not be that easy. So, sometimes just take your time to give yourself the basic and necessary attention.
For instance, when you visit the loo, ask your partner or someone else to take care of the baby.
55. Spend time outdoors
Nature has therapeutic effects on our soul, body, and mind. So, don’t shut yourself in and step out into nature. You may go for rock climbing, hiking, biking, or even a lazy walk.
You can enjoy such activities all alone or take someone along on this healing activity. Enjoy an intimate moment with your friend, family, or partner to boost more positivity.
56. Get a pet
Cuddling helps boost endorphins in our bodies. So, adopt a pet from the shelter. They need a warm home and you desire unconditional love… It’s a win-win situation for both of you.
However, if you can’t adopt one because you can’t care for it or your family has fur allergies, volunteer in a pet shelter or visit a pet café. Even a few minutes of hugging a pet works well.
57. Invest in optimism boosters
Your home is a safe haven so fill it with items that boost positivity. Think about what makes you happy in life. If it’s a person, then revamp your space with their pictures.
If you like art, then get artistic vases and show pieces. If you like gardening, get indoor plants. It’s all up to how you want to decorate it to feel warmer.
58. Have a meal alone
When you eat with lots of people every day, it might become overwhelming at times. Perhaps, your partner always takes a big bite of your favorite junk food.
Well, you don’t feel offended, but you obviously appreciate it if they didn’t do so. So, when you have special food you don’t wanna share, eat alone. Relish every bite and taste without the worry of food being stolen.
59. Spend on little things
You can’t splurge a lot on shopping especially if you have financial issues. So, you can’t go crazy on the shopping spree. Instead, buy one item that’s meaningful to your self-love journey.
It might be a book you want to read, a candle, bath bomb, skincare, food, yoga outfits, or room décor. This way you won’t max out your card and also treat yourself right.
60. Spend time in the bath
At the end of the day, don’t hop in the shower. Prepare a warm bath, add a bath bomb, essential oils, and flower petals, light a candle, soak, and grab a drink.
Sense how the fatigue melts away, your toes and fingertips feel a bit livelier, and your back feels less sore. Notice how the water feels on your skin, the smell of the bath, and the taste of your drink.
On social media, everyone tries to spin their perfect fairytale story. However, most of the time they fake it. Yet you feel jealous and hurt that you don’t have a perfect life.
If that sounds like you, try social media detox. Uninstall all of your social media apps from your smartphone. Stay away from the apps for at least two weeks and ground yourself in reality.
62. Or scroll more
Though excess social media can be harmful, if you’re not an addict and know what kind of content can help, this can be a great way to relax. Search for funny and optimistic content to uplift your mood.
Check funny videos for a good laugh or ASMR videos to relax and soothe yourself. However, ensure you don’t follow any spiral of negativity.
63. Go out on dates
If you have a partner, plan dates to make both of your lives even more happening and enhance your relationship. If your partner usually plans dates, this time you take the charge.
Book a dining table or choose something from their bucket list. If you don’t have enough ideas, search some online to make it enjoyable for you both.
64. Dance like nobody’s looking
While spending noise-free time works for many, a little bit of jazz can fix your mood. Tune into your favorite songs and groove your body to the rhythm.
Close your windows and pull the blinds for privacy. Make sure you don’t go stomp on the floor too hard if someone lives in the apartment below yours. Remember, self-love isn’t the same as selfishness.
65. Stay in touch with a therapist
If you have the money for seeking a therapist, try one right now! You can even book online therapy so don’t be concerned if you can’t find one around your place.
A therapist can help you identify any underlying issues in your life and carve strategies to enhance your mental health. Stay truthful during the sessions and follow what the expert suggests. With time, you’ll surely be able to love yourself.
Are you curious about how you’ll gain from this journey? Then let me enlighten you here…
Why is self love important?
Most people have the same question: what’s with the self-love chants? Well, the idea didn’t blow up for nada… because self-love helps you deal with deep-seated and recent issues in your life.
Further, without self-love, you might damage your health seriously. So, let’s take a deeper look here…
1. You feel more satisfied with life
Without self-love, you’ll mostly be prone to making wrong decisions in your life. You may become dependent on others for approval before major steps in your life.
You won’t mature emotionally and might ignore and blame yourself frequently. All of this can impact your life negatively, so self-love can make you optimistic and provide greater life satisfaction.
2. You can address childhood issues
If your parents or caregiver didn’t provide you with proper physical, emotional, or psychological support, you might have long-lasting issues like low self-esteem or attachment issues.
The negative message from early years may convince you that you’re no good… even when you have a good life. Self-love helps you recognize and address such past wounds.
3. You can raise a healthy family
If you know the value of self-love, you can also teach them to your children. Even if you learned to appreciate yourself the hard way, your kids won’t struggle and lead a much more cheerful life.
You can teach them self-worth, ways to express themselves calmly, and how to respect, love, and accept themselves. You all can pick up better
4. It’s a sheath from others’ opinions
You’ll meet many mean people in your life and they’ll try everything to put you down. From your close family to even strangers, someone or the other will always hurt you.
Self-love will help you deal with the emotional pain and carry on with your life.
5. It prevents health issues of perfectionism
Due to the lack of self-love and self-compassion, people believe that perfectionism is a valuable quality. However, perfectionism causes many physical and mental health issues.
It shortens your lifespan, fibromyalgia, bulimia or anorexia, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies. Perfectionists also take longer to recover from cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Self-love can help you prevent lots of health concerns and these are only part of it.
A word from ThePleasantRelationship
If you believe in sacrificing for others from the bottom of your heart, self-love can be a hard topic for you. However, you can’t love others without loving yourself.
Consider yourself and your loved ones as vessels and compare love with water. If you pour out water from one vessel bit by bit from your vessel to others but don’t replenish yours, your vessel will become empty someday.
Similarly, when you run out of love, you won’t be able to love others. In fact, you might even feel resentful about how others are happier or have fuller vessels than yours.
So, don’t neglect yourself if you want to cherish everyone. Farewell on your new journey…
