Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to life.
What is self love?
Self-love, which is also often referred to as self-compassion, involves taking care of your own needs, accepting your weaknesses and failures as well as your strengths, and staying in touch with your emotions. Most of us know what self-love is but do not understand it. It is sad that most of us are trying to conquer external battles like finding love, finding success, or finding happiness, but we do not understand that self-love is the root from which everything grows. Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth. Self-love means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. Self-love means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others. Self-love means not settling for less than you deserve
Self-love comprises four aspects: self-awareness, self-worth, self-esteem and self-care.
If one is missing, then you do not entirely have self-love. To have it, we should be aligned with these four aspects. The journey of achieving self-love does not differ from confronting your demons. It is the reason most of us lack it, because no one wants to sit down and have a conversation with themselves. Self-Love is hard to achieve because it means having to do away with certain things and people we are addicted to. Our addiction to people and habits that go against the premise of self-love means that we compromise and hence love ourselves conditionally, in exchange for the momentary rush we get from these distracting things.
- Self-awareness
Self-awareness is being aware of your thought processes: your thoughts, how they affect your emotions, and how emotions cause you to act. Are you aware of the thoughts that make you feel angry and make you act impulsively? Where are they coming from, and why are they there? Why do they cause you to act the way that you do? The same applies to what makes you happy. Why does it make you happy? It is stepping out of yourself to examine yourself. Self-awareness is the key to emotional intelligence. What makes you mad might not stop making you mad, but you will know how to respond effectively or how to not respond at all. People with high emotional intelligence have emotions just like we do. But they step out of their emotions to process them effectively. This also includes moving away or avoiding situations that you know will trigger certain undesirable feelings and reactions within you. If you cannot move away or avoid the situation, self-awareness enables you to redirect the energy you are putting in those emotions. One way to improve your self-awareness is to keep a journal of your thoughts, emotions, and actions.
- Self-worth
Because of the continuous negative programing that we face in society, we focus on the bad and unpleasant things and project this negativity onto ourselves so often without even realizing it. You are born with an endless sea of potential; You have it now and you will have it till the day you die. Just like we cannot create or destroy energy, we can only explore or hide potential. Self-worth is the beliefs we have about ourselves, and often we struggle to believe in ourselves. This is because of past unfortunate circumstances we have been through that we have not fully shaken off. Self-worth lies in all the good things about you. Everyone has something good about them. If you struggle to find your self-worth, find a day that you can spend picking out the things you have done right or the things that other people have appreciated about you. You may be a pushover because you don’t know your worth. There is never a day that you are not worthy. Self-worth is not determined by anything; you don’t have to do anything to be worth it. You just are. Know that and understand that. Your strengths, talents, and kind acts toward other people are just an expression of your self-worth.
- Self-esteem
Self-esteem results from self-worth. A high sense of self-worth results in high self-esteem. Self-worth is the realization that we are valuable regardless of what we have achieved or the qualities we may have; self-esteem is more tied to our qualities and achievements. The exercise mentioned above appeals more to self-esteem but I used it for self-worth because we work better with things that we can see rather than things we can’t. When you develop a sense of self-worth, self-esteem will come more naturally. Self-esteem deals with three factors—how we were loved as children, the accomplishments of the people in our age group, and how well we have accomplished compared to our childhood caregivers. Self-esteem has everything to do with being content and comfortable with who you are, where you are, and what you have. If you want self-esteem, improve your self-worth. Remind yourself every day that you need not justify your existence. Your need to accomplish certain things is often because of your need to justify your existence.
- Self-care
This aspect has more to do with the physical but it is not entirely physical. Self-care is all the acts we do to keep ourselves healthy, like taking a bath, eating a balanced diet, staying hydrated, and doing things that we love. Self-care can also take form of watching what you consume, like the music you listen to, the things you watch, and the people you spend time with. Compared to the other aspects of self-love, self-care is easier to do. It is best to start here on your journey toward discovering self-love. Ask yourself this question as often as you can: “What would someone who loves themselves do?” Ask yourself this question whenever you need to make a decision, be it trivial or important. This exercise will come with one tip and one warning.
Why is self love important?
- Helps reduce stress, Can help you develop healthier habits, improves your emotional resilience, improves your relationships, makes you more productive, can help manage anxiety and depression symptoms, can increase your happiness, boosts your confidence, helps you achieve your goals, inspires others
How do we learn to practice self love?
- Cast Out the Idea That You Have to Be Perfect: The idea of perfection is false, and when you see it on social media, it frequently hides serious mental health problems.
- Understand That Sometimes Societal Expectations Offer Unrealistic Standards: You are unique on this earth and cannot reasonably be compared to anyone else. You are the only one to whom you should compare yourself. Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”.
- Live in the Moment, Just for a Moment Every Day: Realize how fortunate you are to be a living, breathing, and functioning human being.
- Daily Gratitude: Start a gratitude journal, an Instagram channel, a blog, or just take three minutes every day to think about all the things you have to be thankful for.
- Embrace the Fact That You Can’t Control Everything: Instead of attempting to control everything in life, focus on how you respond to it.
- Self-Care: Society has taught us that taking care of ourselves is selfish, this is not true.
- Check In With Yourself Emotionally: The greatest course of action is to learn to feel your sentiments rather than bury them genuinely.
- Tighten Your Circle: Your social circle affects your whole life. Look at the five individuals you spend time with since they make up who you are.
- Eat Healthier: Your mental health is impacted by what you put into your body.
- Get Moving!: Try out a new sport or physical activity, then discover one that you like that makes you laugh and is enjoyable for you. Do that then!
- Clear Up Your Environment: Get rid of all the haters on social media.
- Be Unique: Take pride in your differences and learn to love them if you want to develop self-love. This is what distinguishes you..
- Let Go of Toxic Relationships: It’s critical to consider the connections that make you feel good and recognize those that negatively influence your life.
- Forgive Yourself: Although you can’t change the things you’ve done in the past, you can influence what happens in the future.
- Meditate: Be aware of your thoughts, feelings, and desires.
- Remember Who You Are: You have endured a lot, yet you have overcome it, growing stronger with each experience.
- Give Yourself Permission to Love Your Body: It is a tool that enables you to accomplish all of your life’s goals. Loving yourself and falling head over heels with your appearance is what self-love is all about! Happiness results from accepting oneself.
- Try Minimalism: Happiness is appreciating what you already have.
- List Positive Things About Yourself: Make a list of your best traits and accomplishments the next time you feel joyous and in control of the universe.
- Don’t Be Afraid to Be Creative: Use your imagination and whatever other means you choose to express yourself.
- Learn Continuously: Learn, read, and try new things. Figure out what works for you.
- Stop Being Too Tough on Yourself: We all have a critic who wants to keep us tiny and secure. The drawback is that it prevents us from living complete lives.
Setting Time-Boundaries: Set boundaries on how you’ll spend your time. Don’t feel guilty for saying no. Saying no occasionally does not make you a bad person; rather, it makes you clever.
Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone: Taking a risk is one of the best ways to show yourself, love.
Celebrate Milestones: No matter how big or small, acknowledge your victories.
Follow Your Passion: Are you aware of that thing that both excites and terrifies you? Although you’ve convinced yourself it won’t work, the thing you want to accomplish. Get moving on that!
Give up the Need for Approval From Others: You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.
Find Your Happy Place: What is the one area where you feel completely at ease, at peace, happy, optimistic, and full of life?
Turn Off and Inwards: Grab a cup of your preferred tea, coffee, wine, or other beverage, and sit by yourself for a while. Just you, no TV or other distractions.
Try Journaling
Be Realistic: We are all human, after all. We all make errors and have mixed emotions, and that’s okay. Embrace your humanity.
Final Thoughts
You can improve your relationship by learning to love yourself and practicing self-love. This is essential if you want to develop a strong connection with other people. Although it takes time to develop self-love, you will undoubtedly get better at it. Even if you’re under stress, consider all that you’ve already accomplished. You will be one step closer to being the best version once you discover how to be kind to yourself. A wonderful time! Get out there and pursue the activities that ignite your passion. Enjoy them, enjoy who you are, and take in your amazing life.