Embracing the Journey: A Guide to Cultivating Self-Love

When is the last time you showed yourself some love?

The idea of self-love can carry a negative connotation. Some might even assume you’re being “selfish” if you indulge in some form of self-love. However, prioritizing yourself is important for overall wellbeing and maintaining healthy relationships.

I’m sure you have heard of the saying, “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” But what does this have to do with self-love? Well, keeping your cup full is important to be able to pour into others, and self-love is an essential way to keep your cup full. Here are some quick tips to help fill your cup!

Identifying Personal Strengths:

You are good at something. In fact, I bet you’re good at multiple things. How often are you thinking about the things you’re good at or succeed in? Probably not as often as you think about your weaknesses. Try this; spend the next 30 seconds identifying your strengths and weaknesses.

I bet you could easily think of your weaknesses but struggled to identify your strengths. Over the next month, work to identify your personal strengths. Recognizing these strengths will help boost your self-esteem and can result in increased self-love. We should celebrate the things we’re good at and our unique qualities!

Cultivating Self-Compassion:

Embracing understanding can be difficult, and it can be even more difficult when it comes to ourselves. However, being understanding is an important part of self-compassion. Being as compassionate towards ourselves as we would be to someone else is a key part of practicing self-love. This might look like forgiving yourself for making a mistake, giving yourself the benefit of the doubt, embracing good intentions that didn’t turn out the way you expected, and not judging yourself for the way you feel.

Setting Boundaries for Self-Care:

How often is self-care the first thing to “go” when your schedule gets tight? Probably more often than you’d like. Setting boundaries is scary! And, because it is scary, we are less likely to set boundaries for things we might not identify as a necessity. However, self-care is indeed a necessity and therefore might require a clear boundary to protect it in your busy schedule. Take a look at your schedule and find a few times you can “block off” for self-care. Keep reading below for specific activities you can incorporate into these time blocks.

Creating a Self-Love Ritual:

Humans are creatures of habits. That means, if you’re reading this, you are a creature of habit (surprise!) A self-love ritual combines self-care, self-awareness, and a positive connection with oneself on a consistent basis. Including practices like gratitude journaling, meditation, positive affirmations, gentle movement, and intention setting throughout your day is a great way to make your own self-love ritual.

Valentine’s Day often gets overtaken by romantic love. However, self-love can be just as important. So, here’s to incorporating more self-love into your Valentine’s Day celebrations.