The Art of Self Love - Blogger Takeover
How to Effectively Practice Self-Love Every Day by Charlotte Dawson
Practising self-love is something that we all need to do, more often.
Improving your relationship with yourself is so important. You are the most consistent thing in your life, and you will never have someone just like you, to care and love yourself the way you can.
Let's talk about the ways you can effectively practice self-love every single day. Not only will you gradually feel better about yourself, but your whole life will also change.
Your confidence will grow, the way you talk about yourself will change, and the way you allow relationships into your life will be different (for the better) and much more.
What is Self-Love?
Self-love is an act of loving one's self.
No one will be able to love yourself as you do.
To get to this point of really and truly loving yourself, you need to work hard and make lifestyle changes every single day.
Eventually, the following things we will talk about in this post will just become a habit, you won't even think twice about it in the future, but you sure will feel better about it.
Self-love isn't just thinking you're good looking and knowing it. There is a much deeper meaning behind it.
Self-love explores how you feel about your body, your mind, personality, your achievements.
It goes into depth about your whole being. You need to appreciate your body, your health, your lifestyle to fully embrace loving yourself.
Why You Should Practice Self-Love
Well, why wouldn't you?
Answer the following questions in your head (or write them down if you want).
Do you really love yourself?
Are you happy with who you currently are as a whole?
How to you feel about the way you look AND the way you act?
Is there anything you want to change about yourself and why?
Do you find yourself feeling low about your appearance and/or your personality?
Do you often feel frustrated about your personal life, your goals, your job, your friends?
Are you often very bothered about other people's perceptions?
If most of your answers are in agreement with the above statements, then you should try practising more self-love. It is absolutely fine to feel the way you do about yourself, don’t get yourself down.
However, now that you have recognised you want something to change, now is your time to act.
Once you start really practising self-love, you will finally unlock your full potential.
Daily Practices of Self-Love
Keep reading to find different ways to practice self-love every single day.
Don't focus on just one thing, you should be testing all areas of loving yourself physically and mentally.
Create notes on the following, or you could bounce from these ideas to make them suit you and your lifestyle.
Physically
Spend more time caring for your body internally.
Remember to eat breakfast, cook a healthy lunch or dinner. You will feel better about yourself when your body feels healthier too.
Drink more water!
Not only will this habit improve your health, but it will also improve the condition of your hair and skin. So, if this is something you are conscious about or want to improve, try to create a habit of drinking more water (or sugar-free squash) daily.
Start a physical hobby you have wanted to do.
For example, go running with your friend, practice yoga for ten minutes a day, or even hit the gym. You will feel so proud of yourself!
Take more time when getting ready.
Spend time in the shower really caring for your body. Body scrub, moisturise, wash your hair. All of these things that seem so simple can really boost your mood.
Sort out your wardrobe.
Hate the clothes and shoes you own? Sell or donate what you no longer wear or want and buy the clothes you have always wanted to wear! Feel confident in how you present yourself to the world.
Do you keep looking at photos of short hair?
Or a new hair colour? GO FOR IT. You just never know! Make changes you have been too worried to do. It literally does not matter at all what someone else thinks.
Overall, physical self-love can be anything from how you are presenting yourself, to how you are caring for your body physically.
Mentally
Start appreciating what you see in the mirror.
We all have days where we just feel 'bleh'. Sometimes you may look at yourself and think there is no way I am leaving the house like this. Well, stop! You are not only beautiful for the way you look, but you are also beautiful for the way you feel. Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself just one thing you are loving. It may be your hair or even your shoes. Find that joy in the little things daily and tell it to yourself.
Make a list of the things you are personally proud of.
They could be achievements, awards, the progress you have made. These things could also be very personal to you. You may have recently started a new healthy friendship, or even got rid of a bad one. Look at your list and see yourself as an amazing human, doing amazing things.
Write down a daily affirmation.
For example, I speak highly of myself and I appreciate the person I am becoming. Affirmations can be ANYTHING. If you're feeling off with your appearance, make it about how you look. If you are feeling low, create an affirmation to boost your vibes.
Push yourself!
Be the person you want to be. Go to the places you want to go. Get the job you want to have! You can do literally anything once you believe in yourself and push yourself.
Choose the people around you.
Make sure your circle loves you as much as you love yourself. Having any negative vibes or bad feelings can really lower your self-esteem.
In Conclusion
Practicing self-love every single day is a huge lifestyle change. Once that we should all learn to do naturally, all the time.
However, your body and your mind will thank you for it each day you take into account your feelings and acting upon them.
I challenge you to think about the main thing it is that you personally need to work on and start today.
Thank you for reading!
(Massive thank you to Charlotte for writing this wonderful post! For more of her content, follow @copybycharlotte on Instagram!)