Hi and welcome to today's talk about self-love.
It seems like as soon as the clock struck midnight to usher in February that the whole world exploded in hearts,
Flowers,
And the color red.
Love definitely is in the air and it is literally all around us.
As we head into a month that is dedicated to love,
Let's have a conversation about love.
More specifically,
Let's talk about loving yourself.
I don't know about you,
But for me at times it has been way easier to love somebody else than it has been to love myself.
And at times I have treated others with far more love,
Compassion,
Kindness,
And understanding than I have shown myself.
During those times,
If I treated others the way I treated myself or talk to others in the way that I talk to myself or about myself,
Nobody would want to be spoken to in such a negative manner or treated in such a way and I'm fairly certain they would not want to be around me at all.
Loving yourself sounds fairly simple and straightforward,
But if you've ever struggled with loving yourself,
You know that it's not always that easy.
So how do we go about loving ourselves?
Today we are going to delve into ways to show yourself some love.
Life is hard enough without making it harder on yourself.
Instead of being your biggest critic,
Become your biggest fan or your biggest supporter.
The relationship that you have with yourself is the longest and the most important one you will ever have,
So it needs to be a priority.
Some of these ways to love yourself may be things you already are doing.
Some may be things that you used to do but stopped doing along the way.
And some of these may be things you always wanted to try but just never got around to doing.
Whether these are familiar to you or not,
Hopefully these 11 techniques will help you love who you are a little bit more.
Number one,
Make sleep a priority.
It's so easy for all the people and things in our lives to monopolize our time and attention,
Leaving too little time for sufficient sleep.
According to the Cleveland Clinic,
Not getting enough sleep can affect your ability to think,
Remember,
And process information,
Can make you feel moody and become more likely to have conflicts with others,
And become less likely to participate in normal daily activities or to exercise.
So show yourself some love by hitting the sheets for some quality sleep.
Number two,
Nourish your body.
Show yourself that you're a priority by giving yourself healthy food to eat.
Eating a healthy diet boosts your immune system,
Gives you energy,
Improves your mental health,
And makes you feel more alert.
Number three,
Nourish your mind too.
Consider the thoughts,
Shows,
And social media that you consume and the effects that they have on your mental health and well-being.
Do they leave you feeling mentally depleted?
Anxious?
Stressed?
Overwhelmed?
Inadequate?
If so,
Consider unfollowing,
Unsubscribing,
Or taking a break as needed.
Number four,
Move your body.
Taking care of your body with physical movement is a sign of self-love.
You don't have to spend hours in a gym every day or become an elite athlete,
But you can focus on moving your body throughout the day.
Enjoy a walk during your lunch break.
Take an exercise class with a friend.
Play with your dog.
Pace while you are talking on the phone.
Stretch.
Dance.
Choose something you enjoy doing and make the time to do it on a regular basis.
Number five,
Pay attention to your appearance.
When people aren't happy with themselves,
Their general appearance is one of the first things that slides.
Do what you need to do to look your best each day,
Whatever that means for you.
Wear clothes that make you feel confident.
Practice good physical hygiene.
Dab on your favorite perfume,
Cologne,
Or essential oils,
And so on.
Number six,
Make time to relax.
Rest and relaxation are critical for your overall health and well-being.
Schedule time into your day to relax and do something you enjoy.
Meditate.
Pray.
Take a nap.
Read a book.
Savor a cup of tea.
Doing less really does so much more for us than continuing to subscribe to hustle culture and glorifying being busy,
So slow it down.
Number seven,
Forgive yourself.
It's pretty tough to love yourself if you haven't forgiven yourself for your past mistakes.
You can't change the past,
So learn from it,
Forgive yourself,
Grow from it,
And move forward.
Number eight,
Identify your best qualities.
It's easy to quickly rattle off our shortcomings,
But it can be a struggle to identify our positive characteristics.
List all of your best qualities,
Such as your warm smile,
Your ability to make friends easily,
Your sense of humor,
Your kind heart,
Your intelligence,
And whatever else it makes you unique and special.
Keep this list handy for a boost to remind yourself how awesome you really and truly are.
Number nine,
Identify your greatest achievements.
You've made it this far and you have done some amazing things,
So just like you did with identifying your best qualities,
List your greatest achievements,
Such as landing that job you always wanted,
Graduating,
Being a loving caregiver,
Or showing up for yourself,
Especially when you didn't feel like it.
Celebrate achievements,
Both big and small,
Because they all matter.
Number ten,
Disengage from unhealthy relationships.
If someone in your life is a regular detractor,
Considering taking a break from or ending the relationship altogether,
There are roughly 8 billion people in the world,
So don't give your heart,
Your time,
Or your energy to those people who don't treat you with love,
Respect,
And kindness.
Focus on creating and maintaining healthy relationships,
Which is difficult to do when you remain in an unhealthy relationship,
Whether that is a personal,
Romantic,
Familial,
Or professional relationship.
And last but not least,
Number 11,
Start making the changes you've been avoiding.
Most of us have a good idea of the changes we'd like to make and what we need to do,
But we put off taking action until tomorrow,
Next week,
Or any other day but today.
We can change that though.
Let today be the day you take one step,
No matter how small,
To start the change process.
One step leads to another step,
And another,
And another,
And another,
But you have to take that first one.
Once you treat yourself like you matter and commit to loving yourself,
You'll begin to believe that you do.
Making yourself a priority in your own life is truly the best investment that you can make.
I hope that you can take away at least one way to show yourself some love starting today.
Thank you so very much for spending some of your time with me today,
And I wish you much love,
Not just during this month of February that's dedicated to love,
But throughout the rest of the year as well.
