Self-love and self-worth are the roots of happiness. Do you love yourself? Read more to know why it is crucial and how you can attain it.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Self-Love 101: Why It Is Important and How to Practice It
In life, you will see that most of the time you are so busy caring and thinking about others that you forget to care about yourself. Learning to appreciate and love yourself is perhaps the most important thing you can do. Once you love yourself, you will find that not only are you happier but you are also better able to help others around you be content. If you are missing out on taking care of yourself, it is inevitable that every other thing will eventually fall apart. After all, you can’t pour from an empty cup!
Self-love means psychological, physical, and spiritual growth. It means that even though you care for others, you will always put yourself and your happiness first. You might wonder if this is a bit selfish. But putting your peace of mind before others is not selfish at all: It is self-care.
Every person has individual things that make them happy. The way your friend treats themselves to feel better might differ from the way you do it as we all have different things that make us happy. It is essential to know what makes you happy and practice self-love for better mental health. Do you often visit different websites and look up self-worth quotes? It’s high time that you start practicing them.
The Importance of Loving Yourself
In order to exercise self-love, you need to understand why it is so important. Once you embed its worth in your mind, practicing it becomes almost effortless.
Make Healthy Life Choices
Putting yourself above everything else will always make you think how any situation can make you happy. As a result, any choice that you make will always be in your favor. For example, once you start loving yourself, you may want to start eating healthy and going to the gym. These choices are very healthy and come from a sense of self-worth.
Be Successful
Did you even look at the mirror after a bad, tiring day and say to yourself, “What am I doing with my life? I hate myself!” This is where all your success comes crashing down! Once you start believing in yourself, you will start making good choices, and hence, be more successful in relationships, business, and life.
Setting Boundaries in Relationships
Saying “no” can be extremely challenging for a lot of people. For this reason, many relationships do not have boundaries and eventually become unhealthy and toxic. Some people think that if they set a boundary, the other person might be hurt or offended. But once you start putting yourself first, you will know what makes you uncomfortable and draw lines. This never ruins good relationships; rather, it makes them healthier and more stable. When you treat yourself better, it is certain that others will too!
Fill in Your Gaps
We have all been there, feeling lonely after a bad breakup or the loss of a loved one. On those days, you have to be your own strength. Once you start loving yourself, it’s not that you will stop feeling pain, but you know that you will be okay and that you have your own back. You understand yourself better than anyone else does.
You Are in Control of Your Happiness
Let’s face it; you can’t really control everything that happens in your life. However, the good news is, you can definitely control how you react to them. Instead of looking for happiness in things around you, start looking inside you. For example, you got a new haircut and your friend hates it. But their opinion is unlikely to hurt you if you love your new hair, and it makes you happy.
Fight Through Challenges
Adversity is a part of life. A lot of people have trouble fighting through situations and sometimes even engage in abuse or self-harm. If you aren’t gentle with yourself in these times, who will be? Practicing self-love makes it easier to go through tough times without hating yourself!
You may think you know the things that you love about yourself. Try writing them down!
How to Practice Self-Love
Now that you know why self-love is absolutely essential, let’s look at ways you can start practicing.
Become Mindful
Knowing and speaking up about what you want and how you feel is the first step in exercising self-love. If something is bothering you, you must say it. Draw lines according to your comfort zones. Being aware and expressive will allow others to behave in certain ways that make you comfortable.
Know What You Need
You may want an Audi or a Gucci bag or a holiday in Dubai. But you need to focus on what you actually NEED. Focusing on needs will automatically turn you away from situations that may make you love yourself less or get you in trouble.
Practice Self-Care
Take care of yourself. No, this does not mean getting an expensive spa at a salon; however, go ahead and have one if you can. Give yourself time and treat yourself. Meditate, do yoga, cook if you like, meet up with an old friend, adopt a puppy, do things that genuinely make you happy and are good for you too.
Never Compare
Life is not a competition, contrary to popular belief! Each person has a different definition of success, and everybody will have their time. So it is important that you don’t compare yourself with others and don’t let their level of success define yours. Focus on your journey and on bettering yourself.
Stop Seeking Validation
You are not an ice cream man that needs to make everyone happy. Whatever you do, someone will be upset. So it’s better that you stop seeking validation from others and do what you think is best.
Trust Yourself
This is a very important step in practicing self-love. In a lot of situations, we don’t trust ourselves. You might think you are not smart enough to make a wise decision and hence have a tendency to rely on others. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Only then can you learn and grow. For that, you need to trust yourself.
Self-love is not just important; it is essential. Love attracts love. Once you start loving yourself, people around you will treat you better too. So if you are someone who struggles in any situation in life, start practicing self-love, because when you put yourself first, everything else falls into place.