It’s that season of love once again. Every love month, many people from all over the world celebrate with their loved ones. Depending on your love language, Valentine’s day is the perfect day to show your love for someone else. You can send your sweethearts gifts like flowers, chocolates, jewelries, candies and balloons. You can send cheesy messages or post sweet photos on social media. A romantic date or getaway is also a must. There is nothing wrong with all these; after all, our ultimate purpose in life is to love others. But did you know that loving others can only be possible if you love yourself first? Unfortunately, many people claim that of course they love themselves but their actions show otherwise. So, how to love yourself?
Self-Love
What is self-love? Self-love is learning to respect yourself. It is doing things that help take care of you and it is not just about your physical body. Self-love is all about your total well-being.
It sounds easy but it is easier said than done. For instance, do you choose to eat healthy foods over junk foods? How many will actually choose to walk away from a toxic relationship? How many will spend their free time doing things that will enrich and improve themselves? And how many have the courage to say no for fear of displeasing someone else? You see, self-love is a choice. It is about choosing things that will lead you to your overall wellness.
By doing small things daily for yourself; soon, you will find yourself living a happier, healthier and wealthier life.
How To Love Yourself
1.Know Yourself
The first step to loving yourself is to know yourself first. Who are you? I mean the real you, not your persona. Just like loving another person, it is superficial to say you love another even without really knowing that person first. To love another is to love the person totally, the good and the bad – the total package. So, the same is true with loving ourselves. To be able to truly love ourselves, we must know ourselves first.
Find out more about yourself by asking yourself questions like:
- What are things that you love doing / hate doing?
- Who are the people that you enjoy / hate spending your time with?
- Are there activities that you want to try and experience?
- What matters most to you?
2. Be Yourself
You will be doing yourself a disservice if you are not being true to yourself. Giving in to peer pressure, adhering to social norms and burying your individuality all contribute to you burying the real you. This is the reason why many college and university students keep on shifting courses. It is also the reason why in the workplace, many employees are unhappy with their jobs. Have you heard of stories of highly successful people who committed suicide? It is because they are unhappy with their lives.
You see, true happiness is all about you living your authentic self. Just because you are living a life that society labeled as successful does not necessarily mean fulfillment in your part. There will always be a feeling of something missing. This is a sign that you are not living the life that you are destined to live.
3. Choose Yourself
Life is all about choices. Every day we make choices. From the moment you wake up, you can choose how to start your day, the people whom you are going to talk to, how you are going to spend your time, the food that you are going to eat, etc. Part of it is learning when to say no. Thus, it is important to practice creating boundaries for yourself. The real question is what choice will you make for yourself today, for every little thing that you do daily will have a big impact on your life. It is all the small things that we do consistently that shapes our future self.
Remember that You are a product of your decisions. Who you are today is a product of all the choices that you made in the past. So, if you want good health, choose to be healthy. You want wealth, choose to be wealthy. And if you want happiness, choose to be happy. Choose yourself.
Feature Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
