How to Love Yourself

I’d like to share my learning on how to love yourself, as today is International Self Care Day, a day dedicated to the importance of loving yourself and taking care of your whole mind, body and soul. To heal, to be happy, the best thing you can do to take care of yourself is to first love yourself. This I have learned through my healing journey after losing my husband Chris to alcoholism. Self love is crucial – love yourself. If you can’t smile when looking at yourself in the mirror – it’s time to put real effort into loving you. 

But what does it mean to love yourself? 

Everything you need to love yourself is already within you, you just need to realise that. Here are some things to help you love yourself more: 

Be true to yourself

Honesty. Wholehearted honesty with yourself is necessary for loving you and healing.  Hiding behind excuses is not going to fix anything. Those stories that you tell yourself, they won’t solve anything. It’s just going to make them worse. Be true and totally honest with yourself, with self-compassion, out of love for you. 

Face your fears

Instead of avoiding the tough situations – face up to them. Face your fears. Get support through this, to make it easier on you. You don’t have to do it alone, and you don’t have to tackle everything all at once. One thing at a time. 

Speak up about how you feel

For years I stayed silent, not talking about how my husband’s drinking made me feel. I had spoken up once, only to be told that if I loved him, I wouldn’t say those things, or that I was the one making up a problem that wasn’t there. This experience kept me silent for a long time, afraid to speak my truth. Maybe you are hurting about something, but keeping it inside. Remember that the things we keep inside are the things that hurt us. 

Practice gratitude

Being grateful for what you do have is the first step to fixing a life you aren’t happy with. Gratitude helps you feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve your health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. Look for the good, the things to be grateful for, everyday. by building a more positive outlook, it becomes easier to love yourself more too as you begin to be more grateful for you.

Practice self-compassion

Be your best friend. Treat yourself with loving kindness. Start being kinder to yourself, dialling down that inner critic.

Set healthy boundaries

It’s important to note what is good for your wellbeing and what is not. Define these, then set healthy boundaries that support your own wellbeing. Once you define these, it’s easier to communicate them to others. It also makes it easier to say no to the things that are not good for your own wellbeing.

Make a commitment to your self love

Start taking action every day to create a better life for yourself. Commit to taking action, and track your progress.  You deserve to be happy. The transformation won’t happen overnight, but you can start making progress right now if you put your mind to it. Make a commitment to you. Whenever you face challenges in gazing at your reflection, remember that it’s the perfect moment to wholeheartedly embrace the journey of loving and caring for the wonderful person you are.

Thank you to the International Self-Care Foundation for introducing the International Self Care Day. Today, I’d like to remind you that self-care doesn’t just happen on this day, practice self care every day. It’s important to have a self-care routine. In the Blossome community, together, we support one another as we learn to create our own dedicated self-care routines and learn how to love yourself. Join the Blossome Community.