According to Wikipedia, self love is defined as love of self or regard for one’s own well-being and happiness..

The role of self love in mental health is described by William Sweetser as “the maintenance of mental hygiene; he claims that regular maintenance of mental hygiene creates a positive impact on the well being of the individual and the community as well.”

 

Practicing self love can be challenging for many of us, especially in times when we face serious challenges. Practicing self love is needed so we can push through our limiting beliefs and live a life that is truly worthy of living.

 

Ways to practice self love

 

IMPORTANCE OF SELF LOVE

 

It’s important to love yourself because the truth is, you can not love other people until you love yourself and take care of yourself first. When you love yourself, it will give you the opportunity to be able to interact with the world on a deeper level of compassion especially for others.

 

    Self love motivates you to make healthy decisions and choices in life; when you love yourself, you’re inclined to make the right decisions for yourself. When you hold yourself in high esteem you’re more likely to choose things that nurture your well being and serve your well. These things may be in the form of eating healthy, exercising, healthy relationships. You express your self love by wanting and doing the best things for yourself in order to be the best version of yourself.

 

  Without self love you will reduce your capability and ability to be successful at anything, because you already doubt yourself. It’s like setting up yourself for failure at so many things. When you have self love, you’ll be able to accept yourself and accept your flaws. Self acceptance is a key factor to success and its importance for anyone that wants to truly be happy and successful.

 

 Self love helps to eliminate toxic relationships.

 Self love helps us put ourselves in better positions, it allows to enforce solid boundaries, allows show up for ourselves more and it allows us to be more present in our relationships. It enables us to achieve our goals easily and also be more compassionate towards others.

Self love is essential for a healthy relationship. For you love and appreciate another person, you must do that first to yourself. The way you treat yourself sets the tone for how your partner should treat you.

 

  Lack of Self love can lead to an increase in shame, toxicity, fatigue and exhaustion.

It makes you needy. You constantly seek attention and validation from others which makes people push you away from them.

  It makes you hyper-vigilant; you’re scared of making mistakes or people seeing you as imperfect.

You find it difficult to communicate effectively with others, this is as a result of you feeling that you’ll be misunderstood or not heard

 

Your lack self confidence and self esteem leaves you fearful to upsetting others.  Due to the way you feel, you let your anger build up until it becomes extreme and you become passive aggressive.

 

 You wear a mask to hide your vulnerability, you always act in ways that conceal your emotions and you try to put on a brave face so people would not see the problems you face.

 

Once you are full of self love it is much easier to pour love into other people and be productive. it enables us view our fellow humans with less judgment, especially with this divisible climate. Returning to a place of love reminds us that everyone deserves the same kindness, compassion and positive energy that we have experienced.