Love yourself—just two simple words but they pack so much meaning.
For some, learning to love yourself may be easy. For others, it may be one of the hardest things you have ever tried to do.
After all, we know more about who we are than anyone else. We know our weaknesses, our bad habits, our negative thoughts, and the things we do and say when no one is looking.
Additionally, we know every blemish, every flaw, every scar, and every imperfection we’ve ever had.
We don’t even have the luxury of taking a break from ourselves. We are with ourselves every moment of every hour of every day.
It would be hard to love anyone under those circumstances.
Even still, learning to love yourself (warts and all) is one of the greatest things you’ll ever do.
Why? Because when you learn to love yourself, there’s no end to the good you can do in the world.
As I’ve learned to love myself, opportunities to make a difference in the world have opened up all around me and my life has definitely changed for the better. I am living life in a more positive and meaningful way.
I want the same for you, which is why I want to share 7 ways to love yourself better. These 7 actions have changed my life and I know they’ll change yours too.
Stop Being So Hard On Yourself
Have you ever noticed how hard we can be on ourselves? We can tell someone they look amazing and in the same breath put ourselves down for our own appearance.
We need to stop. Behaviors like this are not only damaging to our own self-worth, but we are setting ourselves up to always be a disappointment to ourselves.
Each one of us has value. And because of our unique gifts and talents, we each add immense value to the world.
We need to take a step back and look at ourselves the way we would look at someone we truly love and try to see what they see. I promise that when you look into the mirror and try to see yourself from the eyes of someone who loves you, your entire perspective will change.
Practice Self-Care
It’s important that you understand this one vital truth—taking care of yourself is not selfish. It’s an essential skill that we all need to practice.
Think about all those you love.
As a wife and mother, I take care of my husband and children by feeding them good food, doing their laundry, spending quality time with them, and caring for them when they are sick. For my friends, I spend time with them, take them to lunch, call them on the phone, and give them words of encouragement when they need someone to talk to. I do these things because I love them, and those actions are how I show my love.
When it comes to those we love, we often try to make sure that our actions speak louder than our words in expressing our love for them.
But what actions are you doing when it comes to showing love for yourself? Are you doing things for yourself that are a reflection of your love? If not—you should be.
Find time to take a walk, enjoy a sunset, sit on the couch and have a glass of wine.
Do something just for you.
This is such an important skill to master when learning to love yourself better.
Rehearse Daily Affirmations
Daily affirmations always make me feel better.
If loving yourself is truly hard for you, start by looking at yourself in the mirror each morning and simply repeat the words, “I love myself!”
Focus on those things that you love about yourself by creating an affirmation and repeating it daily.
For example: “I love my hair,” “I love my eyes,” “I love my toes.”
Find those things you love about yourself and start there. Think of your positive characteristics, “I love that I can solve any problem.” Or the kind acts you do, “I love that I am kind to my neighbor.”
Some of the affirmations I use include:
“Today I will celebrate my failures and find the lesson in them.”
“Today I will let go of comparison and embrace what makes me unique.”
“Today I will look for the value in others and find value in myself.”
I repeat these affirmations every day, and I believe in them so much that I have even created a free downloadable pdf on my website for anyone who wants to hang them on their wall.
Affirmations have been a game-changer for me. If you really want to learn how to love yourself better, I highly recommend using affirmations daily.
Evening Gratitude
Every day, there is something to be grateful for. Whether it’s that you made it to work on time, or you have a comfortable place to sleep at night. Evening gratitude is a valuable tool to use.
At the end of every day, taking some time to express gratitude for the minutes and moments that have made up your day will be so beneficial to helping you love yourself better. Why? Because not only will it help you reflect on the good things you’ve done, but it will allow you to see the moments life has provided for you to be the good in the world.
By seeing the good in the world, you will more fully recognize the good within yourself.
Always Remember That You Are More Than Enough
We live in a world where people are always wanting more—a bigger house, a nicer car, a better salary, and the list goes on and on and on.
In a world that puts so much emphasis on needing more and on being more, it’s important that each of us remember that we are already enough. In fact, we are more than enough.
You can do anything you set your mind to. You can be the person you want to be. You can make a difference in the world right where you are.
And you can do all these things simply by being you. You don’t have to be more. You are enough exactly as you are.
Everyone Struggles—Remember You’re Not Alone
It’s when we are at our lowest that the doubts and fears of not measuring up rear their ugly head.
This just leads to self-doubt, self-loathing, and self-deprecation. It’s in these solemn moments when we most need to practice self-love and show kindness to ourselves.
Learning to love yourself is much easier when life is sunshine and rainbows. But it’s a real test of character to have the capacity to love yourself when storms and shadows loom.
In those difficult moments, it is vital to remember that you are not alone. Have compassion on yourself, be kind in the things you say and do, and allow yourself to move through whatever emotions you need to experience without letting go of love for yourself.
You’re not alone. Everyone struggles. The difference between those who rise up and those who continue to fall is love. When you love yourself, you’re more able to move through challenges faster. You’re gentle with yourself through the difficult circumstance by lovingly picking up the pieces and reminding yourself to keep moving forward.
Celebrate Your Failures
Everyone has failures. It’s an inevitable part of life and humanity. But failures are just bumps in the road. It’s what we learn from them that makes the biggest difference.
When you’re willing to recognize that every failure is the perfect opportunity for learning and growth, life takes on new meaning. You are more willing to make mistakes and love yourself through your failures. After all, every failure or mistake provides us with the greatest lessons life has to offer.
Because of the growth that comes from every failure, we should be celebrating our failures and looking forward to the learning opportunities that come from them
With this mindset, we can move on from any failure with the knowledge and capacity to try it a different way the next time.
By celebrating failures, we’re gentler on ourselves and on those around us when those failures come. Because we see them for what they really are—opportunities to become an even better version of ourselves.
In the end, learning to love yourself better really starts with your mindset.
We see so much on social media of everyone’s perfect life, but we need to understand that life isn’t perfect, and neither are we—no one is.
But despite our flaws and weaknesses, we can make a difference by being exactly who we are. It’s the little things we do every day that make the greatest difference and add value to the world.
It’s not just the big philanthropists or the celebrities who are changing the world—it’s us. Each one of us makes a difference in the world with the choices that we make every single day.
You get to make the choice every day to love yourself.
And when you finally decide to love yourself better—you will see that you are amazing exactly as you are, and you will have a greater capacity to change the world right where you are.
