20 Ways To Love Yourself

Since Valentine’s Day is right in the middle of February, love seems to be the theme of this month for many of us.

(including myself, I have to admit 🙂 )

However, you might not have your “better half” to celebrate this holiday with, but you are in a permanent relationship with one incredibly amazing person – and that is yourself.

Single or not, you deserve love, too.

Therefore, I’ve decided to view February as the month of self-love and self-care. 🙂

Because everything in your life starts with you and from you first.

(and this is not a selfish way of thinking, but a fact of life)

Also, when you love yourself and feel good about yourself, you can give even more love to people in your life.

Since this February is the second month of the year 2020, plus when combined with this world-famous love-themed holiday, my mind easily associates this all with the number 2.

In that manner, here are 20 ways to love yourself in 2020 and beyond.

Believe in yourself

This might be the most important thing of all.

As I said, it starts with you first.

Don’t wait for others to lift you up, be your own cheerleader first.

Believe in yourself and your abilities.

You are already capable of many different things, and who knows for how many others.

You are also a lot stronger than you think.

(just trust me on this one, it would be too long to explain 😉 )

Combine these assets and have faith in yourself.

Because if you deeply believe in yourself (and then work on it) – anything is possible.

Embrace who you are…

You can not truly love yourself if you don’t embrace who you are.

Both your look and your personality.

The whole package.

Don’t like something about yourself?

Fine.

That’s a thing to work on, and not an eternal verdict.

This leads me to another point…

…and who you can be

Don’t restrict yourself.

The future is still a blank canvas, and in it, you have a lot of space to become the person you want to be.

Don’t doubt yourself and embrace these wonderful possibilities.

This is you right now, but have a look at how far you’ve come, and imagine what is still for you to achieve.

There are many goals you can set and successfully accomplish.

The future is yours to create.

Accept your feelings

You have every right to feel any way you do.

Both positive and negative emotions are a part of your life (and everybody else’s).

Accept both the good and the bad and develop healthy and respectful ways of expressing these feelings.

Focus on positive

Yes, just like any other person in the world, you had ups and you had downs.

But what you focus on is what makes the difference for your future.

Accept the negative events that happened, but don’t get locked up and paralyzed by them.

Acknowledge them as something that happened and can’t be changed, and then let them go.

Instead, focus on the good in any segment of your life, on the success you already achieved, and the things you have at the moment (both material, and maybe even more important, non-material).

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Think positively

You might be wondering is there a difference between focusing on positive and thinking positively?

The way I view it, they’re two separate but not completely different things.

By focusing on the positive, you do see good things in your life, but when you’re faced with a challenge, your mind might slip into self-doubt, procrastination, fear, or any other emotion that blocks you from making progress.

On the other hand, when you think positively, to your mind, any situation has a good outcome.

You should approach every possibility that emerges with a belief in a positive outcome.

In a glass-half-empty vs the glass-half-full way of thinking, you’re choosing to see option number 2.

You view your achievements as your success (which they really are), and occasional slip-ups as learning possibilities.

To my mind, that’s the key to positive thinking and you can train your brain to think in that direction.

Let go of fear

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to let go of the fear that only blocks your potential.

Many of your fears exist only in your mind and will never become a part of your real life.

Here’s how to deal with them.

Take one of your fears, visualize its worst outcome, and then think about what could you do if it would happen to you.

There is almost a 100% chance anything else will happen instead of that scenario.

And even in that case, you will still survive and make it through.

So you see, you have nothing to worry about.

Let go of the fear.

It’s useless.

Be confident

Some people seem to be born with confidence, while others need to learn that skill.

Confidence is something you radiate from the inside out.

If you follow previous pieces of advice, confidence will come naturally to you.

But until that moment happens, you can start off by standing straight and trusting your judgment in what you do, think, and behave.

Soon enough it will turn into a habit and you will feel much more confident in your own skin.

Nurture your body…

One obvious way to love yourself is to take good care of your body.

It doesn’t have to be some over-the-top, ground-breaking, complex ritual.

For a start, having good, quality sleep, eating regular, mostly healthy meals, and some form of exercise (a simple walk can be just as good as going to the gym) is enough for your body to function well.

If you want to pay more attention to your overall well-being, you might want to add different health and fitness trackers to your planner, which will help you focus on this aspect of your life and be more mindful about your body.

You can also have a look at the 30 best self-care activities for morning, afternoon, and evening that’ll make you feel energized throughout the day.

… and your mind & soul

Don’t forget the other part of your being – your mind and soul.

Regularly take care of them and fuel them up with positivity, as well.

There are many ways to do so.

From meditation, reading books, journaling, listening to music, to eliminating (or at least minimizing) toxic people from your life, you’re clearing your mind and regenerating your soul.

There are many acts of self-care that don’t take much time but you can benefit from them a lot.

Do what you enjoy

We all know it – life is not all a bed of roses and each day we do certain things simply because we have to, no matter if we like them or not.

But there is no reason not to treat yourself to some activity that you truly enjoy – at least from time to time. 

Taking a break and immersing yourself in something that lights you up is a sure way to recharge your batteries and instantly feel better. 🙂

In a week you probably have more days that are booked full than the opposite ones, and finding the time for your favorite activities might be difficult.

(especially if it’s something that takes a bit more time)

I know how it is, I’ve been there, as well.

What helped me might sound ridiculous, but it worked, and it’s really simple.

I’ve started to treat the “fun” part of my life as equally important as my professional part.

I take a planner, schedule those activities, and I’m dead serious about actually doing them.

When I know the day for fun has come, I’m actually more focused and productive, since I want to accomplish all I have planned for that day.

Most of the time it works.

On other occasions, I actually sacrifice some work tasks in favor of that fun activity because doing so really makes more good for me in the long run.

Try out for yourself and see – and here are 25 ideas you can do by yourself for free to get you inspired.

Try new things

Another way of showing yourself some love is to try new things from time to time.

This is a fun, interesting, and adventurous thing to do, and it can even turn out to be useful for you.

By regularly trying out new things you constantly get to learn something new about yourself – about your preferences and your capabilities.

It can be something as simple as trying out a new meal, or something that excites or even scares you – like going for a bungee jump.

To experience new things, you often need to step out of your comfort zone (at least a bit), but that’s where the magic begins.

So say yes and take a leap even if you’re not quite ready for it.

Set limits

You will do yourself a huge favor (and show that you care about yourself) if you respect yourself.

One way to do so is by setting your limits.

What is the line that should not be crossed?

If you haven’t defined them already, discover what are your non-negotiables and even write them down if needed.

Do you want to have the first half an hour in a day only for yourself?

Or maybe a specific time on the weekend when you can do whatever you want?

What behaviors and requests from your family, friends, or colleagues can you tolerate before you will say no?

(and get into the habit of rejecting things -when it makes sense- without feeling guilty. you’ll quickly see how liberating it feels)

The bottom line – set your boundaries and be ruthless about them.

Let go of worry

As with fear, worry should be as rare in your life as possible.

And I’m not talking only about the most common worry – the one regarding what dark scenarios the future might bring.

There is one equally frequent but maybe even more paralyzing worry – worry about other people’s thoughts and opinions.

Has ever something like this crossed your mind?

“What will he/she think if I do this?”

“Will doing this ruin my reputation?”

“What will people think about me?”

“Will I make a fool out of myself?”

(if you answered “no” to all of this, you’re probably the only person on the planet Earth that thinks this way!)

As you already know, everybody has their opinions about almost everything in life.

(ever thought that even your opinion could be the reason for someone else’s worry?!)

Is it necessary to explain, or is it already clear that this is not a reason for concern?

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to people’s opinions or thoughts.

When deciding about some important matters in your life it’s good to hear opinions and different points of view.

But whether you’ll follow the advice or not is up to you.

Live your life the way you think you should, and do what you feel and believe is right for you.

Don’t care too much about what other people think, because nobody else is in your skin.

The people who love you and support you will still be there cheering on you.

Others are not as important anyway.

Own your uniqueness

You are a unique, one-of-a-kind, amazing person.

A mix of many different things.

No one will ever be your perfect copy, and you can not be someone else’s copy either – and that’s the beauty of this world.

Isn’t this alone a reason to celebrate?

Therefore, own your uniqueness.

In light of this fact, making comparisons seems only like a waste of time.

So stop comparing yourself to others.

The only person you should look at and try to “copy” is the person you can be tomorrow. 

Never stop growing

There is always room for self-development and personal growth.

Even the temperature has an absolute zero, but not the other end.

(check it out if you don’t believe me! 😉 )

Imagine how dull life would be if all of your capabilities and interests would stop at one point and never again move forward.

Life is a journey, and we’re all here to expand, enrich, and grow in any positive way possible.

I already mentioned trying out new things, which is one way to grow as a person.

Another way is to explore on a deeper level and learn more about whatever already interests you.

No matter how old you are, it’s never too late to be curious and learn about anything that sparks your interest.

Compliment yourself

Add this little morning ritual that will take only a moment of your time.

Wake up and say or think something good about yourself.

Pump yourself up right from the start.

(and freely continue to do so over the course of the day! 😉 )

Compliment yourself for anything worth mentioning.

And I can guarantee there are a lot of things worth mentioning!

It could be a specific part of your looks, or some of your achievements, your way of thinking or behaving…

Whatever you’re proud of or feel inspired at the moment.

Use daily affirmations

Another way to love yourself is to use affirmations.

Affirmations can strengthen many other aspects of self-love mentioned here, such as your confidence, self-acceptance, and belief in yourself.

Here are some examples of self-love affirmations.

• I love and accept myself.
• I love the person I am becoming.
• I believe in myself.
• I am strong.
• I am beautiful, inside and out.
• I am worth it.
• I choose to be happy.

There are many other affirmations you could use.

I suggest you choose those that will make a positive shift in your mindset, and afterward on your behavior.

Focus on positive images of yourself that are not yet strengthened in your mind and use them until a certain belief becomes your second nature – until you truly believe in what you say.

This way you’re transforming your thoughts and you’re creating a better self-image, which in turn will make you act in such a manner and ultimately become the person that you want to be.

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Stop negative self-talk

Your mind is a powerful force, so choose your thoughts wisely.

You can get trapped in endless circles of negative self-talk if you start doing it.

But stop for a moment and think – what do you get out of it?

Positive thoughts bring positivity to your life, and negative bring more negativity.

I’ve already mentioned affirmations as a way to think (and become) better.

Negative self-talk does quite the opposite.

But it does train your mind to believe in them, and that is not an image you want to have of yourself.

Negative self-talk is often not true and it does not describe your permanent traits but rather reflects your view of some current flop you had in your life.

And even if it does stand true (which is highly unlike), it’s not something that should be grown and nourished.

Therefore, do yourself a favor and discard the negative self-talk from your mind, it does no good at all. 

It only suffocates you and weighs you down.

Always find a reason to smile

Finally – smile.

We all have this one life and it goes by quickly.

Don’t take many things hard on yourself, that is not a burden you should carry.

Instead, whatever the situation you’re in, find a reason to smile each day.

Have this quote in your mind: 

A smile is the best makeup any girl can wear.

Marilyn Monroe

And there you have them!

20 ways to give yourself love and love yourself more with each day! 🙂

Now you can also give more love to people in your life who you care about.

Have a look at Fresh & Fun Ideas You’ll Be Happy To Do In A Relationship or 10 Big Little Things You Can Do With Friends And Family To Create Even Stronger Bond.