The self-love & self-care buzz has been around for years but what does it really mean to love yourself? And how important is it? Are self-love & self-care the same?
Self-love is….
Self-love: regard for one’s own well-being and happiness.
Simply put, self-love means unconditionally accepting our self and self-care refers to caring for our ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally & spiritually. Self-love is more internal e.g. positive self-talk whereas self-care is more action based e.g. eating well. Essentially, they can mean different things to different people! Since they’re both interlinked, I’ll refer to both of them as self-love (for the sake of abbreviation).
How do I love myself?
If we happen to be critical of ourselves, how do we shift our mindset? Here are some useful tips:
Journal: I know you must be thinking- how is this relevant? Journaling or free-writing helps us create a relationship with ourselves. Once we have our thoughts down on paper, we can then decipher who we truly are & figure out what we like about ourselves.
Forgiving ourselves: We all make mistakes. It’s imperative that we take responsibility of our mistakes without lowering our self-esteem and our belief in our self. When we make this effort, we’ll shift from a critical mindset to a more positive mindset!
Believing in ourselves: Sometimes it can get really tough to believe in yourself. This is where affirmations come into play! Repeating phrases that empower us, shifts the way we think. The very first step is telling ourselves that WE CAN DO IT!
What does Self-Love/ Self-Care mean to you?
Does it look like masks, skin care or going to the spa? Or meditation? Working out? Eating well? Self-care is whatever YOU want it to be. Take a moment to think about what you like to do to relax? What makes you excited? What makes you feel better about yourself?
We’ve curated an excellent 4-step self-love recipe for you:
“Of all the things I want to become, I hope to be someone who loves me”
Unknown
My goal: I hope to be someone who loves myself unconditionally, with all my flaws and imperfections. With all my mistakes. To love myself fully & wholly. What do you aim for? Feel free to share in the comments!