5 Self Love Habits And Practices To Start

Guest Post | Today I have a guest post from the lovely Lauren from Bournemouthgirl. Self care is such an important part of our wellbeing, and as we leave lockdown even more so. I hope you enjoy Lauren’s post as much as I do.

‘Self-love is a regard for one’s own wellbeing and happiness.’

Self-love has become more of a talked about concept and is not something that is selfish. It is about being aware that loving yourself is also about loving others; offering an indirect love in a way that you fulfil within yourself first.

Self-love is not a journey you have to go on alone. Although alone time is precious in a very fast paced world, learning to love yourself can be a far easier process when you surround yourself with like-minded people who appreciate their worth as well as seeing your worth.

Developing self-love habits, rituals and practices regularly will help you develop a stronger relationship with yourself and know what your body and mind needs. Many people tell you to put more emphasis on loving yourself, but there is not a huge amount of information, advice or tips on how you can actively increase your self-love and what practices can help you.

Here are 5 tangible things that you can do to increase the self-love in your life which will improve your mental health:

1. Celebrate Tiny Wins

Celebrating the little things is a vital way for you to monitor and track your accomplishments and achievements as it makes you concentrate on the present moment. Your journey of your achievement is just as important as achieving your goal.

Life can be so busy and no matter how organised you are, things can happen which means that your day or a project that you are working on may not be completed or may not be how you envisaged it. However, it is altering your mindset and giving yourself grace with what you have achieved and know that you did the best you could is important. Criticising or punishing yourself is self sabotaging behaviour which is not good for your mental health. 

Acknowledging your successes no matter how small can motivate you to keep pushing forward. It can evoke a more positive attitude about approaching your tasks and your goals. Any accomplishment activates the reward circuitry in your brain and endorphins are released that give you a feeling of achievement and self-worth. Dopamine is also released which can energise you, give you a feeling of reward and give you motivation to continue to achieve.

2. Declutter Friendships

You’ll hear a lot of tips on how to declutter your home, your clothes and how you can clear your mind, but there is one area of your life that also needs decluttering – your friendships.

Over the years, you will have developed many friendships. Some will have added value to your life, yet others have not and are no longer serving you; they have become toxic. You may discover that your mind sets and interests have changed, or maybe you have realised that you didn’t have that much in common to begin with.

As humans, we are social animals, forming and maintaining connections gives us happiness in our lives, but some connections just aren’t meant to last. Keeping those toxic friendships can end up holding your personal growth back and can be extremely draining. Never feel that bad friendships are better that no friendships – that’s just not the case.

Sometimes it can be difficult to notice when a friendship has taken a negative turn and it is now actually toxic for your life. Toxic people are those individuals who are negative, around whom you feel pressure and anxiety, who think only about themselves and require a lot of attention. As a result, you can feel miserable around them and you can feel drained.

When you can declutter the unhealthy friendships, you will see that positive change. You want to surround yourself with positive people who will encourage you because that helps to improve both your self-love and self-worth.

3. Journal 

Journaling is such a powerful practise that can benefit your mental health struggles and help you to improve your self-love and worth. The art of putting a pen to paper and writing down your thoughts and feelings can be really therapeutic and allows you to clear your mind. Not only can you write about your day and memories, but you can use affirmations in your journal.

Affirmations are positive statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging behaviour and negative thoughts. They are not, however, a quick fix, but when you repeat them often and believe in them, you can start to see positive changes.

Journaling allows you to reflect on yourself and become more self-aware. When you start journaling for self-love, you are really journaling to discover more about yourself. Here are 10 affirmations for self-love you can try:

1. I deserve everything good that comes to me.
2. I am worthy of compliments I receive
3. I am enough.
4. I am worthy of success.
5. I am worthy of love.
6. I am worthy of happiness.
7. I am smart and able.
8. I know that I am needed for this world.
9. I am stronger than I seem.
10. I appreciate the skills I have. 
11. I can achieve tasks I set myself.
12. I am doing my very best. 

Using affirmations every morning can help you not only boost your self-esteem, but also help you with a positive mind set for the day. Journal prompts are helpful if you are new to journaling and not sure how to start.

4. Say No To Things That Do Not Serve You

You are in charge of your own happiness and your life. If you feel that something is no longer serving you or you don’t want to do something you have every right to say no. saying no to do something can be difficult especially if you are a people pleaser; unfortunately, all that does, is cause you to burn out or to be unhappy.

Saying no helps you to establish healthy boundaries and gives others clarity about what they can expect from you. In his book ‘The Power of No’ author James Altucher writes: ‘When you say yes to do something that you don’t want to do, you hurt yourself. To start taking back your time and mental wellbeing, instead of instantly saying yes, take a moment and think ‘Does this serve me?’ and ‘Is this something that I want to do?

5. Have a regular digital detox

Social media is one of the biggest drains of self-love today. But there are other things that are online which can have a negative impact on your self-love. There are articles and posts that are filled with people telling you that you need to thinner, happier or wealthier, offering quick fixes that just aren’t feasible. A digital detox is a great way to remove all of that out of your head. Switching off from your phone, social media and unplug. Whether you choose to spend time with loved ones or spend time by yourself, being present can impact your life and how you see yourself.

Having a detox once a week, a little bit each day, or a whole day helps both your physical and mental health. Use the time away from social media to do activities that encourage self-love like: journaling, meditating and reading. Regularly taking part in detoxes can help reduce the negativity building up in your life and affect how you feel about yourself and your mental health. 

How do you show yourself love? I’d love to hear in the comments. 

If you enjoyed this post why not check out How To Reflect On The Past Year In A Healthy Way and 5 Easy Ways To Step Up Your Self-Care Game

Find the best journaling equipment on Etsy to start your journaling progress today.