While it’s easy to treat yourself to a spa day or binge on your favorite dessert, self-love requires time and effort. This includes reflecting on both the negative and positive in your life. You have to be open to looking at yourself with an honest and kind eye. By proactively engaging in self-love, you are building yourself up for happiness and a future that you deserve. Use these four steps below to aid you along your self-love journey.
Stage 1: Define Your Struggles & Let Yourself Heal
Before starting this step, you must allow yourself to feel vulnerable. Now identify the areas that you sometimes struggle with in life. Stay true and transparent with yourself to find out where your wounds are. Only then, will you be able to start to heal. Forgive yourself for any shortcomings and make actionable goals to improve your life. Part of doing this involves recognizing how you sabotage yourself.
Think about the last time you hurt yourself with your own self-critical words. Write down everything that happened. This technique is called mind mapping and it will help you see where your negative thoughts are coming from.
Stage 2: Stand Up to Your Negative Inner Voice
Practice mindfulness when negativity arises. When you challenge your negative inner voice, you look for the root of hurtful thoughts. Find out what you need when these scenarios arise. Is the negativity a cover for something that you want in your life? Let go of the thoughts that hinder your self-love.
You might be surprised at the words you use to bring yourself down. If a close friend talked to you in the same way you talk to yourself, you probably wouldn’t have that friend for long. Learn how to encourage yourself from the perspective of a close friend.
Stage 3: Make Your Self-Love Routine
Uncover positive ways to motivate yourself for your own improvement. Learn how to shift your mindset to focus on things you love and put yourself first. Keep track of your progress by journaling so that you can learn how to maintain or even accelerate your growth.
One thing to help you shift your mindset is to say positive affirmations about yourself aloud. It may feel strange to you at first but it is a useful and powerful tool to use when practicing self-love.
Stage 4: Lean on Loved Ones
While you keep track of your self-improvement progress, strengthen relationships with your loved ones who support you. Let people in on the goals you are trying to achieve. Not only will you build a support system but you may inspire others to embark on a self-love journey. Encouragement goes a long way and it goes both ways. Self-love is a journey, not a destination!
Come up with ways to communicate better with your loved ones. If you’re feeling down, say what’s on your mind. Let people know if you want to be alone. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of personal time to re-energize yourself.
In summary, taking small daily steps will set you on the right path of the overarching journey. So don’t feel rushed and take it at your own pace. Self-love isn’t about treating yourself materially, but it doesn’t hurt to reward yourself throughout the process.
Author Bio
Jessica is a content marketer for ProFlowers with a passion for writing and storytelling. She loves diving deep into a diverse array of topics and she’s written on everything from self-love, decor trends, seasonal flowers and everything in between! When she’s not writing, you can find her visiting community festivals and trying out the latest foodie trends.
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