Loving yourself is hard. Especially when there is so much out there in the world that gives you reasons not to. Social media definitely doesn't help considering it puts all these ideas into young people's minds that if they don't look a certain way, then they aren't pretty or that if they haven't accomplished everything that some id they went to elementary school with has then they are a failure or any number of things.
Loving yourself is impossible when you are hard on yourself. Comparing yourself to others, coming to assumptions without enough evidence, and not putting yourself first are just a few out of countless ways that you might be hard on yourself.
Here are 20 ways to fall in love with yourself.
1. Exercise.
It doesn't have to suck. By this point in your life, you've certainly heard of all the benefits of exercise backed up by science. But, basically exercise can help to improve your mood, feel better about yourself, which helps to love yourself.
2. Travel.
Any chance you get, anywhere you can. It opens your eyes to the beauty around you and sparks the fire inside of you to help you see the beauty in yourself.
3. Be emotional.
Let yourself cry, or be angry, or laugh until people around you tell you to shut up. Being emotional doesn't make you weak. Besides, how are you going to fall in love with yourself if you're sad all the time?
4. Forgive yourself.
You are going to struggle loving yourself if you can't forgive yourself. I'm not saying to just forget everything that happened or that you did but forgive yourself, learn from those mistakes, and become a better person from them. Then you will finally be able to move on and focus on loving yourself.
5. Confront your fears.
Confronting your fears can be scary, that's kind of why they're called your fears. It takes a lot of strength to face them and finally have power over them, but the day you do, you will be able to love yourself so much more.
6. Find new hobbies.
Hobbies can be literally anything that you enjoy. I mean, hey, if you love to sleep, then call it a hobby, as long as it makes you happy. When you find things that you love, you learn more about yourself, which of course helps you to love yourself little by little.
7. Take care of yourself.
Taking care of yourself may seem like something so small and simple but it can make all the difference in the view you have of yourself. If you take care of yourself, you will find more and more things to love about yourself.
8. Don't linger on the past.
The past is the past for a reason. Focus on the now, plan for the future. Lingering on the past means you can't move on, and when you can't move on, you hold onto the old emotions and that makes it pretty hard to love yourself.
9. Create goals for yourself.
There are very few things in this world that are better than accomplishing or achieving your goals. Your goal could be to put away your laundry or vacuum your room or even clean your room. You make these goals and you accomplish them, and then you can feel better about yourself.
10. Be proud of yourself.
It's so easy to say "I'm proud of you" to just about anyone but yourself. But listen, you've lived your life up until this point even if it hasn't been full of ups, and that is something to be proud of yourself for.
11. Go outside and explore nature.
Nature is beautiful. Sunrises. Sunsets. Beaches. Forests. Mountains. Gardens. There is so much beauty in our lives and it's hard to see it when we spend so much time on social media, but take time to go see the beauty, it's right outside your door. It helps to love yourself when you are able to love and see the beauty in nature.
12. Get enough rest.
Don't lie to yourself. You're probably not the nicest person to be around when you got 3 hours of sleep last night. Get more sleep. It's important not only because it's part of taking care of yourself, but because it will improve your mood which of course can help you to be more loving to yourself.
13. Listen to music.
Music is pretty awesome, at least in my personal opinion. It can sometimes describe everything we're feeling that we can't put into words. It can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you dance all around. Find yourself in the songs you love.
14. Accept your flaws.
We all have flaws. Nobody is perfect. But accept the parts that aren't the best about you, because they are what make you you. When you accept the not-so-perfect things about yourself, it becomes a whole lot easier to fall in love with yourself, every part of you.
15. Treat yo' self!
I think this one is pretty obvious, but sometimes we all have wants and things that we desire, and it's actually OK to get yourself something once in a while. Plus, getting yourself something you love might make you happy :).
16. Take time to be alone.
Although it is so important to surround yourself with people that you love and that love you and support you, but sometimes we need to be alone. It can be taking time to read a book when no one else is in the room. It can be writing about whatever you want in a journal. It can be going for a late night drive by yourself. Taking time alone can be doing anything you want, but you will learn so much more about yourself when you do.
17. Listen to yourself.
This might sound dumb, but if you don't listen to yourself, then how are you going to know when you've had enough? How are you going to know that you deserve better? How are you going to know what makes you happy or unhappy? It's so hard to know all these things about ourselves, when we don't even listen to ourselves.
18. Take a break from social media.
For some, this might be the easiest task in the world, for others, it might be tough. But, social media, as great as it can be, can put all these wrong ideas into our heads about how we should look and how we should act and what we should eat and so on and so forth. Taking a break allows you to get out there and figure out who you want to be, not based on what society says to be.
19. Work on things you can change.
Sure, there's a lot in life we cannot change, but there are still things we can change. We can change our outlook on life, we can see the glass as half full instead of half empty. We can try and do whatever we can to make ourselves happy. We can choose who we want to be friends with. We can be who we want to be. Work on being the best possible you because that's something you can always work on.
20. Accept things you cannot change.
This is similar to the one about accepting your flaws, but there's always going to be stuff in life that you cannot change, some things happen, and they can't be changed, but that's OK. Accept them and move on with your life. After all, everything happens for a reason.
Loving yourself is a process, it's not something that is going to happen overnight. It could take months, or even years before you truly love yourself. Besides the fact that you need to be able to fall in love with yourself before you fall in love with anyone else. Without doing so, you'd never know what it is that you want from the relationship and what it is that you believe you deserve. So many times we assume that if we are treated poorly in a relationship or someone breaks up with us then it is what we deserve. But you can never truly know what you deserve until you fall in love with yourself and become the person that you want in your life.
Going to the cinema alone is good for your mental health, says science
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