“How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you” – Rupi Kaur.
Often times, self-love is confused with self-indulgence, self-centeredness, and even narcissism. It’s considered ‘too cheesy’ and the instigator of a selfish approach towards day-to-day matters in life.
Deep down we all know how important it is to love oneself, prioritize one’s needs, and stay focused on one’s own dreams before everything else.
Steps to Self-Love
As goes the great saying by Oscar Wilde, “to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance”.
But the question is, how does one love oneself?
How to rise above your criticism for yourself and start liking who you are as a person?
Here are 5 easy steps to self-love that you can start practicing right away:
- Take out time for yourself: If you’ve never taken yourself out on a date before, or had a good long day at the spa, then it’s time to do it. Solo-dating and time spent taking care of yourself can be your very first step to self-love.
- Nourish your body and mind: Give yourself some love by being mindful of what you eat and do. Treat yourself with informative books, smoothies, and chocolate snacks.
- Commit to a healthy lifestyle: The most important form of self-love is focusing on staying healthy. Create a healthy lifestyle for a sound mind and body.
- Accept your emotions and express yourself: It’s important to confront your emotions and find a way to express them. Indulging in reading, dancing, singing, writing or other such activities can be a good choice.
- Take the path to forgiveness: We can sometimes be hard on ourselves and punish ourselves too much. It’s great to accept your mistakes, but it’s also important to learn and grow rather than staying in the past.
Just remember, appreciating yourself and accepting who you are is the key to self-love!