Do you ever feel like it’s so much easier to offer everyone else love but yourself? If so, you aren’t alone. Self-love is one of the most challenging elements of our lives. It’s not as simple as learning how to prevent bunions, it’s learning how to love yourself. However, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Quite the opposite.
We’re here to help guide you into building a healthier relationship with yourself by offering 4 tips when learning to love yourself more.
Practice Self-Compassion
When we think of compassion, we often think of compassion toward others. However, compassion should be practiced inwardly as well. In order to love and accept yourself, it’s crucial that you don’t judge yourself harshly and you tend to your thoughts and feelings with care and acceptance. This doesn’t mean that you have to be happy about feeling negative emotions, it simply means that when these feelings arise you care for them as you would an innocent child.
Give Yourself Space
How often do you make time for yourself? This could be journaling, meditating, exercising, or any activity where you’re focusing on feeling good both mentally and physically. Self-care is an important element of loving and accepting yourself. It’s important that you set aside time, each day, to do something that nourishes both your soul and body. As you would set aside time for those you love, it’s just as paramount that you set aside time for yourself.
Allow Yourself to Feel
It can be hard to navigate tricky and uncomfortable feelings. This is why it’s all too common to try and distract ourselves from negative thoughts and feelings, or we attempt to wish them away. The truth is that every emotion serves a purpose, and if you’re wanting to love yourself more, it’s important that you allow yourself to feel them. When you sit with your emotions, you can better understand them. This awareness helps you develop a deeper, more meaningful relationship with yourself. Again, think of another person expressing how they feel – you wouldn’t turn them away. Instead, you’d invite them to talk about how they feel, and this is what you should work on doing with yourself.
Surround Yourself with Positive People
Most self-love practice is internal, but there are some external elements that can hinder the relationship you have with yourself. Toxic people can make it challenging to develop a healthy amount of self-love and acceptance. Therefore, it’s paramount that part of your self-love journey includes eliminating the people in your life who don’t support or accept you. You need to work to protect yourself from people who are harmful to your mental well-being. While it might be challenging to end these relationships, you’re giving yourself one of the greatest gifts of self-love by doing so. Remind yourself that you are worthy and deserving of relationships that are healthy, loving, and offer you peace.