It’s one thing to love another person and be loved back, but then it’s on a completely another level to love yourself.
What most people know about love is loving and being loved but hardly do they remember to love themselves even though self-love should be the first form of loving
How do expect someone else to love you if you cannot love yourself and how would reasonably love another person if you cannot love your self either.
Even the bible says love your neighbor as you love yourself because you are logically expected to love yourself more than loving anybody else
Here are 10 ways you can love yourself as self love comes first before all other forms of love
1. Standing up for yourself
Standing up for yourself doesn’t imply being rude or mean but it means put straight what affects you in a negative way even if it means saying no to others
If someone does something you don’t like, let them know so they can stop doing it.
If your allow someone to continue doing something you clearly know affects you then you will not be loving yourself because you can’t let someone you love get affected by something negative when you are capable of doing something about it
2. Putting yourself first
Putting yourself first doesn’t necessarily mean being selfish but it means meeting your needs first before you meet other people’s needs or wants
In this case first get yourself the things you want and not instead of meeting other people wants or needs when you personally don’t have them
That would be hypocrisy, to meet other people’s needs ahead of yours when you’re personally in need of them too.
Actually it would a lot easier to meet other people’s needs or wants when you are personally contented that you have enough
3. Give yourself Self respect
Self respect means choosing to do something because you believe is right. This also implies not accepting to be influenced by bandwagon
If the rest of the people are doing something you disagree with, you stand on what you believe in even if it means standing alone
Well if you love yourself you will also stick with your values
4. Forgive yourself
Just as we forgive some people for doing things we hate just because we love them, in the same way, if you make a mistake forgive yourself
Instead of regretting and being hard on yourself, let it go and forgive yourself and instead take it as a learning experience
5. Spend money on yourself and things you love
Most people think if someone loves you, they will definitely spend money on you. That’s true at least if they have the money
And in this case you can spend the money on yourself, go shopping and get yourself the best clothing or take yourself out to a fancy restaurant
6. Don’t compare yourself to others
Comparing yourself to others is an insult to yourself. The truth is you can never be like another person because naturally we are not designed to be the same. It’s our differences that make us complement each other in our everyday life
So instead of comparing yourself to others you should be nurturing your differences that define you and comparing yourself to whom where yesterday before you started loving yourself not to others
7. Accept yourself the way you are
When you stop comparing yourself to others it means you have accepted yourself the way you are.
You logically cannot love yourself or anyone else unless you are willing to accept them the way they are.
If you don’t accept yourself you will be spending most of the time trying to change yourself to appear probably like what you think is good or better
8. Say nice things to yourself
Would you really be friends with someone who talks to you the way you talk yourself.
Well if not, then say things good things about yourself that you would love to hear from other people
This also includes thinking positive and good about yourself since when we love someone you should only be running positive vibes on your mind and in your words.
9. Take care of yourself
We have all taken care of someone before but in this case, you are taking care of yourself because we usually take care of people we love.
You can take care of yourself by going for a medical check up to make sure you are in good health, make sure you have eaten a balanced diet, have a good night sleep and a lot of other things that go with your general body wellness
10. Celebrate your achievements
Well if you are not sure of what you are good at; it lies in your achievements.
One sign of self love is the ability to see any form of accomplishments however small they could be which will, in turn, bring you happiness and this also a good way of being content with what you have
If you don’t even know any of your small successes then you just don’t love your self
11. Do things you love
When was the last time you did something you loved and your where interested in?
In most cases, the things you do are a result of need, necessity, and obligation but hardly things you love or want
You can practice self love by taking some time off and doing things you love
Conclusion
To practice self love for yourself, just think of and do everything you would do for someone you love and in this case, do that for yourself
The easiest ways you can love yourself is by doing things you would do for someone you love, but this time doing them for yourself not someone else and they should bring you emotional, physical and mental stability plus happiness
