Loving yourself is the most important thing you can do, and despite what some may thing, it comes well before loving others. You can’t love others fully or genuinely unless you love yourself. Instead that love you feel you may have for others is really filling a vacancy of the love you may not have for yourself. To truly love someone the way they deserve and to truly be loved by someone the way you deserve, you must genuinely know what it means to love yourself and do it, every day.
1. Loving Yourself Is Accepting Who You Are
There are things you will be able to change about yourself and things that you cannot. You need to be realistic and understand who you are and what you are and not be sad and jealous of others who are things you want to be. You have to work on the things you can change and let go of those you can’t. You may not be a good singer.
You may not come from a rich family. You may not be the best athlete. You may be shy in social situations. Accept who you are and acknowledge that you can improve certain things and others you cannot. If people judge you or don’t like you for who you are, then they are not people you need in your life.
2. Embrace Your Flaws
Loving yourself means embracing your flaws, because those things about yourself you may find to be flaws aren’t really flaws at all. They are what make you you! Embrace your shortness. Not everyone is meant to be tall, and being tall has its own troubles. Love your obsession with keeping things in order, this can pay off in many ways down the line. Accept the fact you do not possess the patience for certain things and use your eager and aggressive nature to your advantage.
3. Don’t Ignore Your Own Feelings
Loving yourself is not letting things go or burying them deep inside. If something doesn’t feel right, chances are it probably isn’t. If you feel a certain way, its most often warranted and you need to express yourself and how you feel to the person who is causing you to have bad feelings. If someone is hurting you, they need to know and understand. If they won’t make amends, then love yourself to not be around or have people in your life that don’t make you feel wonderful every day.
4. Know That You Deserve Better
In this life or the next, you don’t have to settle for less than what you want. Sometimes people settle into jobs, relationships, situations that damage their mental and physical health. Loving yourself is knowing when these situations are bad for you and moving forward from them, on to a positive and happy life.
5. Taking Care of Your Body
Loving yourself is to take care of your body and not develop habits that may cause it to break down way before your years. This include abusing substances, drinking to excess, smoking, overeating to the point of morbid obesity that it causes organ failure and other health issues that may cause havoc in your life. To love yourself means to give your body the essentials it needs so that you feel good physically, every day.
6. Taking Time for Yourself.
Loving yourself is taking time for yourself every now and then to do what you love and enjoy. It may be tough with the demands of friends and family, and your time may be limited, but taking time to enjoy your life the way you want to is essential to treating yourself well and being happy. There is a balance between work, responsibilities and play – you just need to find it.
7. Forgive Yourself
Loving yourself is knowing you can’t change the past. You must move on and make a change to be better, not to make the same mistakes and let go of your mistakes. Holding onto them will only drag you down.
8. Know That You Are Good Enough
Loving yourself means never having to change who you are to make another person happy. There is a difference between this and compromising in a friendship or relationship. Knowing that you are good enough means that people should love you for your sex, age, race, religion, height, weight, fashion sense, personality, interests and not judge you because they may differ from theirs. If someone wants you to change, then they are the one who is not good enough for your life. Not the other way around.
