Loving yourself isn’t always about bath bombs and massages. Actually, it’s more about building a healthier relationship with yourself that doesn’t always involve material things. You can love yourself without having to spend any money because taking care of yourself will only require a change in habits and mindsets.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to treat yourself to a day at the spa or buying something you’ve had your eye on for a while, but you shouldn’t limit the meaning of self-love. At the very least, you should learn how to love yourself better just by simply prioritizing your needs over others.
There’s no right or wrong way to love yourself. As long as you’re doing what you believe is right and you’re not hurting anyone in the process, then so be it. But it also won’t hurt if you had a guideline on loving yourself better, so if you need help in that department, here are four ways you can work on self-love:
Take Care of Your Overall Health
You can’t say that you love yourself if you’re not paying attention to what your body and mind need. It’s important to take care of your health and well-being because it’s what keeps you alive. You have to make sure that your physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being is healthy at all times.
That’s one of the best ways to practice self-love. For instance, if you’re feeling ill because of the presence of allergens in the air, then you should receive treatment for allergies. Otherwise, you’ll continue to feel ill whenever you’re exposed to the allergens and suffer from its debilitating symptoms.
The same thing goes for your mental health. If you believe that what you’re going through is too difficult and heavy that you can no longer cope with, consider approaching a professional that can help. Learning that you’re not as healthy as you believed can be scary, but it’s also the first step you need to start healing.
Prioritize Your Peace of Mind
The world is too full of toxicity and negativity, which is why it’s important to value your peace of mind. Trying to absorb all that unwanted emotions can be bad for your mental health, especially because it can take a toll on your system. So, if you have the option to remove yourself from unlikely situations, do it for your sanity.
Besides, no one worthy of your energy will call you selfish for wanting to have some peace of mind. And if they call you out for not participating in the ill-fated conversations, then you can just vaguely explain that you’re not in the right headspace to deal with whatever it is. Don’t hesitate to get out of situations that suffocate you and make you uncomfortable.
Choose Your Own Happiness
Life is too short to not allow yourself to be happy. Society has created people who are too focused on making everyone around them happy, but they don’t teach people how to focus on their own happiness. That’s why when you finally choose what makes you happy, it can raise feelings of selfishness, even when it’s not warranted.
Although it might be hard at first, you should consider choosing your own happiness from time to time. This is not to say that you should abandon all the people counting on you, but you might want to hold back on sacrificing your happiness for the sake of others. You should be kind to yourself too.
Allow Yourself to be Loved
The last thing you can do to love yourself is to allow yourself to be loved by others. Contrary to what society and preconceived notions have led you to believe, you are worthy of being loved no matter how you look, what you weigh, what you do, or who you love. Your self-worth will never be defined by these metrics.
You may think that you have to look or act a certain way before you can be loved by other people, but that’s just the backward mentality that you’ve grown up learning. So, as a final act of self-love, you have to unlearn these kinds of thinking and allow yourself to be loved by your friends, family, or partner.
Much like any form of love, self-love is a process. You have to be committed to loving yourself because there will be good and bad days. However, you have to remember that having bad days won’t erase the progress you’ve made towards loving the person you’ve chosen to become on your good days.
