It's the month of l-o-v-e. Love for your bae, your girls, and most importantly, yourself. We as humans really take pride in our ability to care for others, making sure that the people we hold near always feel valued... But are we doing the same for ourselves? This month, take some time to participate in acts of self-love and see how much your love for others will grow as well.
Loving yourself fully is a process and doesn't always come easy. I know for me it took a while to fully love myself and even then, I still have some days where I am not as kind to myself as I should be. The first step to loving yourself is knowing yourself. Know what you love most about your personality, what you acknowledge that you need to work on, and how you want to continue to grow. Having some loving talks with yourself sounds like something a crazy person may do, but man, that crazy person probably loves themselves so much. Take into account the strengths that you feel connected to; make a list of the people you love and the things that make you feel like the best version of yourself. It may feel uncomfortable at first to take a closer look at ourselves and think introspectively but if you know yourself well, it makes loving yourself that much easier.
When getting to know yourself it's really easy to get into habits of negative self-talk and comparison. Our world right now is set up to make us feel bad about ourselves and oftentimes, it succeeds. Especially with social media. Pay attention to the times you feel lowest. Is it after being on Instagram for too long? Take a break, unfollow those who make you feel unworthy and take care of your feelings! Focus on you, on all of your growth, and on all of the ways that you are succeeding bit by bit.
Remember, self-love looks different on everyone. I am someone who has to have time alone to reenergize and think. I know a number of people who love themselves by being around those they love. It’s not always baths and candles. It is whatever makes you feel a little better or more in touch with yourself. Sometimes self-love is being vulnerable, allowing yourself to feel sad, annoyed, and angry; honoring those feelings.
There are some really simple ways that we can get to know ourselves and one another--especially via quizzes and personality tests. My favorite one is the Love Language test, which identifies the five ways you give and receive all forms of love. It helped me understand better why I place so much value on my "me" time.
It can be difficult to be on your own, but I promise there are no greater investments than the ones you put into yourself. Now, I know I just talked a bunch about working really hard on loving yourself, but please realize that this is a journey. Additionally, even if you have days where you don't love yourself, you are still worthy of love. I don't fully believe that if you don't love yourself you won't be able to love others. Sometimes, through loving others we learn how to love ourselves. You are always worthy of love.
