Loving yourself is very difficult for many people in this world. Many believe that they have too many flaws. They do not treat themselves with respect. They may even believe that they are worthless. Although this may seem extremely negative, the truth is that many people degrade and disrespect themselves every day. This mindset needs to change. It may be a slow process, but progress needs to be made in order to regain self-confidence and self-love.
What does self-love necessarily mean? It does not just include loving and accepting your body. It is also recognizing that your happiness is as important if not more important than other people’s well-being. It is putting yourself as a priority in your life and knowing that if you do not first take care of yourself, you will not be able to fully help others. You need to make sure that you are healthy and happy enough to help others. It is also knowing that you cannot sacrifice your own happiness and health for others’ happiness. It is okay to be a little selfish in taking care of yourself because you are the most important person in your life.
Although there could be multiple factors in the disappearance of self-love, the most important thing is to not find a quick solution in others or to make any rash decisions to feel loved. Many people often try to jump into relationships in order to be loved and to have someone else reassure them that they are special. However, if you are unable to find love in yourself for yourself, you will not feel complete or satisfied if someone else tries to love you. You need to dig deep within yourself and truly come to love yourself. The issue will not disappear once you are in a relationship. You cannot force the heavy burden of this process onto someone else. You need to love yourself in order to open yourself up to someone else loving you. Without this self-growth and self-love, the relationship will be built on a rocky foundation and may crumble at any moment. Self-love is needed before finding love in others, helping others, and making them feel loved as well.
What can be done to help increase and stabilize your self-love? Although many people believe that self-care will increase self-love, that is not necessarily the case. Self-care includes exercise, facials, treating yourself, and more. This all involves making yourself feel better. Self-love involves treating yourself with respect and knowing that it is important to take care of yourself as you are the most important person in your life. While self-care may help your process in discovering or amplifying your self-love, you will need to truly take steps to recognize your self-worth and recognizing that you deserve kindness, love, and compliments from yourself. A way to start your process of self-love could be looking at yourself every day and complimenting a particular feature or trait that you like about yourself. It could be like how your body hasn’t failed you and has kept you going for all of your life. It could be that you like your sense of humor. As time goes on, more things could be done to increase your self-love, but this can be done in the early stages of recognizing your worth and prioritizing your happiness. You need to stop degrading and demeaning yourself because this is your life, your body, and your world. This is the life that you have been given, so it is important to spend your time loving yourself instead of bullying yourself. It may be challenging to love yourself, but little by little and with time, it may come naturally to you and become a part of your daily routine where you build yourself up and let yourself be confident in your happiness.