Self Love, and Why It’s Important

Would you treat a friend, like you treat yourself?

If we could rate the people we are unkind to, we’d be the first to top our own list. “Love yourself”, we often hear, but why is it so difficult to follow such a positive thought?

Kindness, I believe, should begin at home, and let that home, begin with your heart. Our conditioning to be humble, sometimes affects us negatively, when we misunderstand self love for arrogance. We are too shy to take compliments, too humble to applaud our own achievements and too harsh on our mistakes. We fail to recognize the wonderful beings that we are, and are most times looking for reminders from the outside. We’re quick to become our own critic, but we take our time to be our own cheerleaders.

Self love isn’t merely a cool, overused word on the internet. In fact, if anything, I think it’s the most unused element. We get so busy dealing with life, that we forget the first person who needs our attention, our own self! Working out, having a good warm beverage on a cold day, spending time doing what we love, are all forms of self care, but self love goes a step ahead.

Be kind to yourself. Forgive yourself when you make mistakes. Don’t be harsh on yourself. Keep an eye on the words you use while talking to yourself.

Celebrate yourself. Celebrate the fact that you did a great job surviving

Forgive yourself, for things you didn’t get right. You must have learned something from it for sure. Put that learning into action and let go off the burden on your shoulder.

Place yourself first. This isn’t selfish, it’s necessary. It’s important to be there for your own self before you try and be there for someone else. *Insert in flight oxygen mask example*

How often have you looked at someone more good looking, and felt bad about your own self? Did you ever stop to think someone else looks at you the way you look at the good looking one? How often did you wish you were smarter, leaner, sharper? How often did you let people put you down, or stayed in uncomfortable situations that could harm you. My favourite quote by Eleanor Roosevelt says “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”.

Fall in love with yourself. Wonderful things happen when you fall in love with your own self, when you treat yourself the way you deserve to be treated.

You get rid of toxic people. Toxic people are highly dangerous to your self confidence and success in life in general. They pull you down everytime you’re up a step in your ladder. When you love yourself enough, you won’t entertain anyone who makes you question if you’re worthy of love.

You become more positive. A well loved mind is a healthy mind, that doesn’t entertain negativity.

You’ll be happier. A positive human, without a doubt is a happy one. In fact, anyone who’s loved is happy. The same logic comes to life when you’re loved by your own self.

You’ll be more confident. When you love yourself, you tend to become more confident about yourself. It’s just like the love you have for a loved one. Whether the world believes in them or not, you have an unexplained confidence in them.

You won’t seek validation. When you fall in love with your own self, you won’t seek for validation from people. You won’t think twice before validating yourself with an A plus.

Your relationships will be more meaningful.When you’re kinder to yourself, you’re kinder to others as well. You know the importance of being loved, and make sure your loved ones know that too.

Love is beautiful, and so is self love, perhaps even more than the former. Be your own best friend. One life is all you have, spend it with someone you love, spend it with you!