If you want to make changes in your life, you must first accept who you are. How can you love yourself?
Self-love is fundamental to treating yourself well and putting yourself first. It allows you to truly understand and accept your flaws and strengths.
Everyone has flaws. You cannot stop loving yourself because of them. Lack of acceptance of flaws can be the basis of low self-esteem, which can lead to many mental disorders such as:
Loving yourself is closely related to raising your self-esteem.
Sometimes different physical features, such as protruding ears or freckles on the face, get in the way. It is hard to accept the fact that you are not perfect. That is why it is worth to look at yourself objectively and appreciate what you have, such as nice eyes, slim legs – everyone has something to be proud of. Then it turns out that physical features that at first bothered you, now become very trivial.
Instead of focusing only on flaws and negative traits, focus on opportunities and self-improvement. This is the first step to loving yourself.
Today’s world is rushing forward, everyone has more and more responsibilities and more and more things are done automatically. This leaves little time for yourself. That is why it is so important to stop for a moment and ask yourself:
These questions allow you to treat yourself uniquely, which is the basis for self-acceptance.
No one is perfect – everyone has some flaws that they are trying to work on. Accepting your own imperfections is another step in loving yourself. Some traits are innate and cannot be changed, such as intellect.
It is worth focusing on those aspects of your personality with which you are satisfied and which can be improved (they depend on you).
Everyone has a ruthless critic inside them who keeps saying:
Constant self-criticism and unfounded accusations result in lowered self-esteem and lack of self-love.
If you are the one doing the criticizing, only you can stop doing it. Start seeing yourself as someone special. Every day say an affirmation to yourself: “I am special, there is no other person like me in the world.”
Many people hear in their childhood that they cannot bow out with their needs and must always give way. Such people are not able to cope in adult life. Therefore, being a mature person, you should cut off from these messages and forgive your parents – this way you can get inner peace
Start making decisions on your own. This is your life and no one will live it for you. Sometimes it’s good to listen to other people’s advice, but the final decision should be yours. You don’t have to take advice from other people when making decisions.
Everyone has a personal psychological space, which consists of:
It’s worth learning to say “yes” to your needs while helping others but not allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.
Each day, focus only on what you’ve done well enough to be proud of yourself. Notice your accomplishments, even the small ones, and jot them down in a notebook. Believe that you have the right to be proud of your successes.
Once you give yourself love, you will see the positive impact this attitude has on your life and your relationships with others. If you truly love yourself, you will also be able to love other people.
Main article image: photo by Sophie Mayanne / DigitalVision / Getty Images
