Happy February! We have officially entered a month centered around hearts, chocolate, flowers and romance. In my experience, all these things lead to heightened expectations that don’t always get met. Perhaps you don’t get the type of date you want or maybe your plans fall through.
Although I fully believe in deserving the very best love, I find it easier to focus on self-love instead. This perspective shift can help alleviate pressure and can protect your mental health a little better. If you’re interested in ways to increase your self-love, then check out some tips below!
Acknowledging you’re worthy:
The first step in finding self-love is acknowledging that you’re worthy of it! Once you start believing that you deserve to love yourself, then you might just start being able to do so. It’s totally understandable to need some convincing of this from time to time, so try some of these affirmations.
When you’re feeling the need for a reminder that you’re worthy of love, repeat some of these at least a few times out loud until you notice your physiology start to shift. You can repeat them as many times as you feel necessary to start believing it.
- I am enough
- I am worthy of love
- I am loved
- I am thankful for myself
Move beyond the body:
If you are managing some issues related to loving your body and your body image, then shifting some perspective from how the body looks to what the body does can be exponentially helpful in stepping in to loving yourself. You can start off by noticing one part of yourself that you may have been at odds with—this can be a body part that may have given you some thoughts of unworthiness when you looked at it before. Once you have identified that part, look at it and say thank you for what it does for you.
An example of this might look like looking at your stomach in the mirror and thanking it for growing your kids or patting your legs and thanking them for moving you around and getting you places. Just like with the affirmations exercise, you can repeat these noticings as much as you feel might be needed to create a shift.
Don’t miss out on fun:
I can’t tell you how many conversations I have been involved in where folks have told me they wouldn’t swim that summer because their body didn’t look how they wanted or that they didn’t want to have pictures taken of them because they didn’t think they looked good. As someone who has also spoken like that, I can’t enforce enough how important it is for self-love and self-esteem to push yourself to not miss out on those experiences—no matter what you look like in those moments.
It may go against everything in which you’ve been conditioned and may be super challenging, but there is no better way to truly love yourself than to engage in activities that show yourself love and care. Buy that bathing suit. Wear that outfit. Take those pictures and pick at least one thing you love about yourself in them.
Wishing you a wonderful month filled with love, care and as always, Jubilance!
