The first step to loving yourself is learning how to love yourself. It’s not always as easy as it sounds. We all want to be loved, especially by ourselves. If you’re wondering how you can learn to love yourself and be happy with who you are right now, here are some tips.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
One of the biggest things you can do to practice self-love is to stop comparing yourself to others. Comparing your life to other people’s lives is not beneficial because everyone has their own path and experiences that are unique to them. It’s important not only for your own happiness but also for developing healthy relationships with others. Try to focus on yourself and what makes you happy. You can’t change who you are or what has happened in your past. All you can do is accept it and move forward with confidence in who you’ve become today.
You Don’t Need to Change
Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that you need to change who you are or something about yourself to be loved by someone else. Don’t change yourself for anyone else. You don’t have to do anything differently because someone wants it that way, including your partner, family members, or friends.
You may have a tendency to over-analyze every comment made about your appearance or personality and make changes based on their feedback. However, it’s important not to let other people dictate how you feel about yourself. If a person doesn’t accept you for who you are, then they’re not worth your time anyway.
Learn About Yourself
Learning to love yourself means understanding what makes you happy, and then doing those things often. This may not be as simple as it sounds. It requires asking yourself some hard questions. What do I want from my life? What are the things that bring me joy? What makes me feel fulfilled and satisfied?
Now that you have identified your goals, try to make a habit of doing them regularly. If writing is one of your favorite hobbies, come up with a plan for writing daily or weekly to make the process easier for yourself. If going on walks is something that brings joy into your life, consider making friends with other walkers so you can walk together regularly.
Take Care of Yourself First
One of the most crucial steps in practicing self-love is to make sure you are taking care of your own needs before you try to take care of anyone else’s needs. If you don’t feel good, how can you possibly expect others to feel good? You can’t be a good caretaker if you don’t take care of yourself first.
Start by making a list of all the things that are important to you and then prioritizing those needs based on importance and urgency. Once this is done, start working on building into your schedule the time needed for each item on the list so that it becomes part of what is expected from yourself at any given time or day. Try not to put anything else above these items because they are all equally important for everything else in life to work properly.
Be Gentle With Yourself
There are so many ways you can be kinder to yourself. You could practice self-compassion meditation. Or you could just simply remind yourself of all the times you’ve been kind and supportive toward others in your life and feel grateful for those moments of caring and kindness.
You might also try not being critical when things don’t go the way you’d like them to. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight or stop smoking and it doesn’t happen as quickly as planned, that doesn’t mean it’s time to give up. It just means that this is an area where more practice might be needed before results show up. Instead of beating yourself up, focus on being gentle with yourself instead by saying something like: “I am going through some challenges right now but will keep working on them until I reach my goals.”
Take Care of Your Emotional Needs
Self-love is not selfish. It’s more than just taking care of yourself—it’s about loving yourself. When you do this, you are able to be more present and compassionate toward others.
So how can you practice self-love? Remember that caring for your own emotional needs is a form of self-love, not selfishness. If something is going on with your life that makes it hard for you to sleep or eat or enjoy what matters most to you, take the time to address those issues until they’re resolved before moving forward in your life.
Relearning to love yourself after a period of self-hatred is difficult. Remember that self-love is a journey, and you don’t have to be perfect. Just keep trying, and let yourself enjoy the process. Take things one step at a time. Recognizing the small wins in your life and not dwelling on the negative thoughts can really help improve your life. If you or someone you know is struggling with loving themselves or even living in a state of depression, we want to help. We want to help you see the light and beauty you bring to this world. It is a process and won’t happen overnight, but we can help you through this process. We can help you fall in love with yourself and the work that you are doing. Please reach out to Acera Health to talk to a mental health professional. Call, (949) 647-4090.
