How To Love Yourself: 6 Ideas To Think About
How To Love Yourself When You Don’t Know How
When it comes to how to love yourself, there is no easy answer.
I mean, I feel like the idea is pretty simple and straightforward.
And I believe we know we should love ourselves. We know the importance of it.
But I don’t think we focus on loving ourselves.
Many times we focus on loving others. We push ourselves to the side.
Why do we do this?
I wish I had a clear-cut answer to that question.
But I don’t. I don’t think anyone has one definitive answer to this.
The truth remains, however, that learning to love and value ourselves NEEDS to happen. Yes, we all want it to happen but we also need it to happen.
Good things are on the way when you make yourself a priority!
Here Are 6 Ideas Sure To Help You Discover How To Love Yourself
1) Stop Comparing
OK, let me rephrase that.
Try to stop comparing yourself to others. This is hard. SO HARD!
And to think that we will never compare ourselves to others is not at all realistic.
The comparison trap will get us all at one point or another.
And that darn old comparison is strong and overbearing and it can really cast a dark shadow over love. So, it is crucial to continuously work on the amount of comparison you allow in your life.
Your love for yourself and your self-worth will not grow if you are spending your time cutting yourself down because you feel you don’t live up to someone else.
Here is a deeper look at some simple ways to stop comparing yourself to others! (no magic tips but some really good practical ones)
2) Write a Dating Profile
Ok, are you thinking…huh?
Hear me out. I know this seems weird but it is really just about getting to know yourself.
I think that sometimes we can get so caught up doing things for others that we forget about ourselves.
A few months ago I was talking to a friend and somehow the idea of dating came up and how terrifying it would be to have to enter the dating scene again.
The most terrifying part was that I had no idea what I would say about myself.
Hi, I take care of kids and do an obscene amount of dishes and laundry. That was literally all I could come up with.
At the time, I laughed it off. But it really wasn’t funny.
How can we work on truly loving ourselves if we don’t really know ourselves?
I think writing a dating profile (whether fake or real) is a fun way to break the ice when it comes to complimenting yourself and being reintroduced to yourself in a sense.
And compliments are kind. And kindness is a HUGE component of loving yourself.
3) Personal Growth
We can not hope our way to self-love. We can not cross our fingers and magically develop a better relationship with ourselves.
It takes a little bit more effort than that.
We have to be intentional. Put in the work.
I love personal growth because it is this eye-opening journey that is also never-ending.
That’s the beauty of it. There is no final destination. No pressure of a looming deadline.
You always have the choice to change your mind. You always have the choice to grow and evolve and become a different version of yourself.
Start that journey today of learning to love yourself and truly support yourself and believe in yourself.
I am a book lover to my core. These personal growth books are too good not to check out!
4) Treat Yourself Better
It is so easy to pour everything we have into those around us. And it is also so easy to justify doing this.
But there is a better way. Is the better way the easier way? Not really.
Putting yourself first can be a monumental challenge.
All my fellow parents know what I mean. Actually, parents or not, everyone can understand this.
So many people just don’t treat themselves very well.
Honestly, I don’t even think a majority of people give any thought at all about how they treat themselves.
This path will not serve you. Not ever.
How do you treat the people in your life that you love? The people that mean the most to you?
You should be treating yourself that way. We all should.
Remember if you made a list of all the people you love, you should be on that list.
5) Give Yourself Grace
So often we set ourselves up with these completely unrealistic expectations.
We almost expect perfection from ourselves.
And then we wonder why the way we feel about ourselves is not stellar.
I know I am not the only one dealing with an extremely harsh inner critic.
We are so quick to be understanding with others. So quick to encourage someone to not be so hard on themselves. Yet we don’t do that for ourselves.
Life will always throw its fair share of curveballs and challenges our way. And any struggle we face will be that much tougher if we are already hard on ourselves.
One thing is for sure in life. Perfection is completely unattainable.
And you know what else is a sure thing in life. Everyone makes mistakes. EVERYONE.
I say we start making room for mistakes. Mistakes or setbacks are not our enemies.
6) Find Pockets of Joy
Find pockets of time to do things you love.
Create small increments of joy in your days.
Loving yourself and loving your life does not mean that there will only be clear skies ahead.
You can be struggling and still love yourself. I can be navigating my way through a challenging situation and still love myself.
More than one thing can always be true.
Part of loving yourself is doing things (no matter the size) for yourself and recognizing that you deserve good things and you are worthy of every bit of joy that comes your way.
Little bits of love and goodness scattered throughout your days will help you love your life more and yourself more as well.
We are all amazing people worthy of love.
Love yourself, friend. Be your biggest fan!
Have any tips on how to love yourself? Share away!
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