I used to hate the word love. What is love? Why should we love? What will we benefit from loving others, more especially, what will we benefit from loving ourselves? Why put in the effort to love ourselves. What is there, that is so unique about myself that I should fall in love with.
What exactly is self-love? Back in junior high,I loathed myself. I hated to look at myself in the mirror. In fact, I was utterly disgusted with myself. So why should I suddenly love myself. Let me just start by defining self-love in my own words. Self-love is basically loving yourself, in and out, best features, and worse features.
Let me do a little flashback to when I was in grade 6. I had a little crush on a very handsome boy. He was tall and had a very nice smile that melted my heart. Being the lover girl that I am, I tried to get his attention, and I did, but it was the wrong type of attention. I confessed my feelings to him, and he, due to unknown reasons, decided to humiliate me in front of his friends. I was crushed. As a matter of fact, the ground opening and swallowing me whole couldn’t save me from that embarrassment I felt. That was the beginning of my self-hatred. I asked myself, am I that ugly to be rejected in this manner? What is so bad about me to make a grade 6 boy humiliate me in front of his friends? Was I that annoying? Was I too skinny? Too fat for his liking? I just couldn’t understand.
Self love is appreciating yourself. Physically, mentally, psychologically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually. Did you know that, as a christian, loving God is also loving yourself? I got to know this, discovering myself and following Christ. Leaning towards Christ, I learned to love myself. For me, that was the first step to loving myself. Knowing Christ. Knowing that there’s a big creator, who loves you? No one can tell you anything. That you’re too skinny? Too fat? If God you, nothing in the world matters. Here are some useful activities that help you appreciate you.
1. Journaling. I bought a journal. To jot down what I feel. The things I want. The things I need. That keeps my emotions in check, my life in check, my everything in check. Journaling brought some sense of peace and stability-i think. I wrote down my feelings, my thoughts, my expressions, my expectations, and my experiences.
Journaling our life and appreciating our efforts.
2. Words of encouragement or motivation. Talk to yourself. Don’t always listen to yourself because our minds can speak negativity to us. Tell yourself you are beautiful. You are handsome. You are worth it. You are loved. You are desired.you are essential. You are a work of art. Do this when you wake up, before you go to bed, before you go to work, to school, to town, to your friends. Keep yourself encouraged. Fill your minds with positivity, with love, with warmth, peace, and healthy relations with yourself.
Get a quote and use it as your daily affirmation
3. Gifts. I recently started gifting myself as a form of appreciation. Almost like how you work hard in the office or at your job and you are rewarded every month with your salary. It’s not only physical gifts. It can be a weekend getaway, a date with yourself, a time-out where you don’t do anything but rest, read a book, fill yourself with knowledge, engage in fun activity-cooking, sewing, exercise, and keeping fit. I buy gifts for myself, and that has really made me feel so happy and so loved. If you love yourself, you’d know your worth.
4. Living healthy. Did you know that taking care of your physical health is a form of appreciation for you? Imagine eating healthy, staying hydrated all the time, skincare routine on point, daily exercising, healthy hair, for the rest of your life. Imagine how peaceful you would feel. So light, so refreshed, so energetic, full of life, and fulfilled. Just imagine. I’d be honest and say my eating habits are terrible. I barely sleep, and if I do, it’s at the wrong time. I don’t exercise at all because, according to me, I don’t have the time or motivation, but once in a while, I stretch my now aching body to keep my joints and muscles moving.
Even if you don’t have time, the little you have, use it for yourself. You deserve it after all that hard work and stress. Do some yoga, eat some fruits, vegetables, healthy fruit shakes, strch those limbs, empower your mind, fill it with knowledge, read a book, rest. My love, rest because that is the most important thing. We need energy to keep going, so if you haven’t had time to rest, drop everything and rest. Take a quick nap or a long one.
Self-love takes a lot of effort and no effort at all. It’s simply loving yourself, but easy as it sounds can be very difficult if you have low self-esteem and low self-worth. It can be very difficult if you listen to every comment made about you. It becomes very difficult if you decide that you need other people’s love and validation before you find yourself worthy. It becomes so difficult when you don’t appreciate yourself and belittle yourself, especially in front of others, because how can someone love you when you don’t love yourself.
Writing this piece has been difficult because I am also struggling to love myself, but the more I write, the more I understand what I am supposed to do. It’s been great sharing this piece, and I hope it touches someone’s heart. This is the perrie writer, and I’ll see you next time.
prguitarman
amandla
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind