Much like self-care, Self-love is something that gets thrown around without people truly knowing the meaning. Self-love isn’t only about feeling good about yourself and being confident. It’s about accepting yourself as you are and having an appreciation for yourself. Throughout my life like many, I’ve struggled with self-love. There was a time where I’d look in the mirror and hated what I saw. I lacked confidence, doubted, and put myself. It held me back from trying new things and putting myself out there.
Lacking self-love will keep you from reaching your full potential. When you don’t feel good about yourself, then you’re less likely to step outside of your comfort and achieve personal growth. It’s important to stand with confidence, and love yourself. We aren’t perfect, and sometimes we fail. Failure is a part of the journey, it teaches us what we did, and lets us know to try again. Accept yourself as you are, be confident, and feel good about yourself. Life isn’t perfect, and you’re not expected to be perfect either.
If you’ve been lacking self-love, then it’s time to start accepting yourself as you are and having compassion for yourself. It’s not an overnight process, but here are some ways you can cultivate self-love and acceptance in your life.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
Comparing yourself to others is a trap that’s easy to fall into. We go online, and see others living what seems to be a perfect life. Then we look at ourselves and realize that our lives aren’t all that great. Generally speaking, people tend to show the best parts of their lives online. It’s key to remember the person on the other side of the account, is human like you. Even though they’re not posting it online. They have bad days too, and things don’t always go as planned. For that one perfect shot that was posted online, there were probably some not-so-great photos before it. Comparing yourself to others leads to self-doubt, instead stay present in your own life. Focus on what you do have and be grateful, opposed to looking at everyone else and focusing on what you don’t have.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to take breaks from social media or unfollow accounts that make you feel or think negatively about yourself.
Accept your flaws
Perfect doesn’t exist. No one has the perfect smile, body, or hair. Stop focusing on trying to reach an unachievable goal. Love yourself the way that you are. Remember that you are enough the way you are, and you don’t have to do anything other than yourself to be loved or accepted by others.
Treat Yourself like you’d like others to treat you
We are what we attract. Our thoughts become things, and we are a magnet attracting what we think and feel. If we’re going through life treating ourselves poorly and thinking negatively about ourselves. Then that’s what we are going to attract into our lives. Change the way you treat yourself, and you’ll notice that things will start to shift around you.
Tip: Practice affirmations for self-love daily. They’re a great way to shift away from negative thinking. Below are a few affirmations to help you form a healthier relationship with yourself.
- I am worthy of love, flaws, and all.
- I accept my failures, but they don’t define me.
- My goal is progress, not perfection.
- I am enough.
- I respect my limitations and am grateful for the capabilities that I have.
Forgive yourself
We all make mistakes and things don’t always turn out the way we’d like. Learn to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes instead of beating yourself up over them. Mistakes are lessons and if we went through life without ever making mistakes. Then we’d never learn and grow as people. Next time, things don’t go as plan try changing your perspective. Look at what went right, what you’ve learned, and what you’ll do differently next time.
Self-love is something that grows over time. Start by planting the seed, then cultivating it over time by actively implementing things like the tips above to grow your self-love.
Related Post: 5 Self-help Strategies to Improve Body Image
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