Regardless of where you are on your self love journey, we have all struggled with self love at one point or another. The truth is, a self love journey is just that – a journey. It may not come easy, and just like any relationship you are going to have to work at it everyday.
I’ve compiled a list of my 10 favorite ways to practice self love daily. A lot of these tips fall into the “easier said than done” category. Don’t worry! Remember that self love is a journey that requires practice every day.
1. Self Care
The first way I like to practice self love is by practicing self care regularly. Whenever I say “self care,” I don’t just mean an avocado face mask while drinking champagne and binge-watching your favorite true crime series. While these can be considered forms of self care, I’m also referring to making sure that you get enough sleep, eating healthy meals throughout the day, and keeping your surroundings clean and organized.
Think about it this way: How many times have you done something for someone you love just to show them you care? Why not do the same for yourself?
If you’re interested in starting a self care practice or want to learn more about the different areas of self care, we’ve got you covered. Check out this post on the 6 areas of self care.
2. Learn to Find Positives In Your Mistakes
Making mistakes is part of life. If you expect to go through life without making mistakes, you are setting unrealistic expectations for yourself.
One mindset change that I’ve made is being more gracious in accepting my mistakes. Rather than being hard on myself about making a mistake, I try to make the most out of the situation.
I try to find a way to learn a lesson from the mistake, while understanding that making mistakes can help me grow.
Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn to embrace the lessons you can learn from them.
3. Set Boundaries
One of the best ways to practice self love is to respect yourself including your time, energy, and space. This requires you to practice setting boundaries.
Are you someone who is constantly stretching yourself too thin between multiple commitments? If so, this is a clear sign that you should start setting boundaries for yourself. To get started, begin by practicing saying “no.”
4. Form New Habits
Self love includes allowing yourself to experience personal growth. This can be done by monitoring your habits and determining which habits help you grow, and which habits are holding you back.
In addition to letting go of bad habits, allow yourself to form new habits. Wake up a little earlier so that you can squeeze in a quick meditation before work. Have you been considering signing up for your local gym? Go for it!
Self love includes stepping outside of your comfort zone so that you can form new habits that help you grow.
5. Do What You Need, Not Just What You Want
One of the new habits I’ve recently developed is completing my workout before work in the morning. This not only helps me wake up, but also leaves me feeling energized to start my day. Although I usually feel good after my workout, I sometimes need a little extra motivation to get started in the morning.
Some days it would be a lot easier to just sleep in for another hour. However, I know if I miss my workout, it will throw off the rest of my day and likely leave me feeling sluggish. I know that I need to get up and push through my workout, but I want to stay in bed.
Self love is realizing that you sometimes you should push yourself to do what you need to do, rather than what you want to do. I am always happier when I push myself to accomplish what my mind, body, and soul need.
6. Schedule “You” Time
Consider a relationship where you never go out on a date. Now think about a friendship where you never hang out or check in on each other. If you don’t take time to nurture these relationships, they likely won’t be as strong or long lasting.
Much like these relationships, you need to dedicate time to spend with yourself. Do what you enjoy, eat a meal with yourself, go on a walk. Spend some time to check in with yourself and get in touch with your inner thoughts.
7. Do Things You Enjoy
This next form of practicing self love goes hand in hand with scheduling “you” time. Allow yourself to spend time doing things you enjoy.
I lost interest in a lot of my hobbies in college. Each time I tried to do a hobby, I would feel guilty because I felt I should have been doing something “more productive” like working on an assignment or studying for my next exam.
By having this toxic mentality, I deprived myself of years of happiness and self fulfillment.
Practice self love by allowing yourself to enjoy the things you love doing.
8. Practice the Art of Letting Go
Self love includes letting go of things that no longer serve you. This includes negative mindsets, negative behavior, and negative people.
Make your happiness and inner peace a priority, and don’t be afraid to remove anything or anyone from your life that threatens either.
9. Create a Healthy and Positive Environment
Another way to practice self love is to create a healthy and positive environment for yourself. This includes keeping your space clean and organized. Practice self love by tidying the areas that you spend the most of your time in, such as your home or office space.
This also includes monitoring your social circle and surrounding yourself with people who genuinely support you and want the best for you.
You deserve to surround yourself with people who love you and want to see you succeed. We are a reflection of our environment, so we should focus on making our environment as uplifting as possible.
10. Self Reflection/Journal
To love yourself, you must learn about yourself. What are your interests, likes/dislikes, and pet peeves? What are your goals? What does success look like to you?
Take some time to learn the answers to these questions by engaging in self reflection. I enjoy doing this through journaling regularly.
Practice
Remember, self love is a journey that requires patience and practice. The more you practice, the more natural it becomes.
If you enjoyed this post, check out this other post on the 6 areas of self care. Also, if you want to be notified of when I post similar stories, consider subscribing!
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