Your life takes a dramatic turn for the better when you figure out how to fall in love with yourself again. And this is despite any ugly experiences you’ve had in the past.
But what does self-love really mean?
Loving yourself means accepting your strengths and weaknesses, putting your wants and needs above those of others, and being intentional about your life.
However, most people already know this. The challenge is converting what they know in theory into doable, everyday activity. If that’s you, you’ll find this article quite helpful.
I’ll get right into the practical steps for loving yourself in a bit. But first, here’s why self-love is the best gift you can give yourself.
Why It’s Important to Love Yourself
You simply can’t give what you don’t have, and if you don’t love yourself, there’s hardly any love in you to give another person.
Your relationship, friendships, interaction with others, and everything else about you is connected to your relationship with yourself. This is why it is crucial to practice self-love first if you want to improve the quality of your life in all aspects.
That said, self-love isn’t the easiest thing to practice.
You know yourself too well and are familiar with your insecurities and weaknesses. This can make it harder to accept and love yourself, flaws and all. Yet, there isn’t a single person without their own shortcomings and problems.
Loving yourself might not be easy, but it is the best gift you can give yourself for the following reasons:
- You don’t need approval from external sources
- You make healthier choices
- It makes open communication with others easier
- You handle bad days better
- You don’t hold grudges and easily move on from guilt
- You won’t lose yourself in relationships
- You can say no to others when it is necessary without feeling awful
How to Fall in Love With Yourself: 12 Easy-to-Practice Self-Love Tips
1. Have Fun – Lots of It!
The daily hustle and bustle comes with many stressors that rob you of happiness and joy. Every day, take some time to do the things that make you feel joyful and truly alive.
For example, play your favorite music, sing along, and dance like no one is watching! Go for a walk or hike, feel the cool breeze on your skin, and lose yourself in the exhilarating feeling of being in nature.
If you have kids, play with them, let your guard down and laugh hard, and feel the excitement of fully enjoying the moment.
Don’t be afraid to be spontaneous! If you allow yourself to enjoy all the fun, you can possibly have, you’ll find yourself falling head over heels with yourself.
2. Do Nice Things for Yourself
Think of all the nice things you’ve done for others, especially when you went out of your way to make others feel good.
Cultivate the habit of doing the same thing again, but do it for yourself this time.
Doing things for others puts a smile on their faces and makes you feel great about yourself. On the other hand, doing nice things for yourself allows you to reap both benefits.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Take Credit
Shying away from accepting compliments is one clear sign of low self-esteem and a feeling of unworthiness.
You deserve honest praise, so don’t downplay it when someone compliments your skills and abilities. If someone gives you positive feedback, take it to hear and thank them sincerely.
I understand the need to be modest, but taking credit strikes a balance between downplaying your accomplishments and blowing your own trumpets. It boosts your self-esteem and self-image, leading to a higher appreciation of self.
Create Alone-Time Without Distractions
Making time for others is great and offers some incredible benefits for you and those you share your time with. However, we often give others more time than we allocate to ourselves.
A typical adult wakes up early in the morning to get everything ready for the kids and family before hurrying off to work. Next, spend a large portion of the day making employers, clients, customers, teams, and coworkers happy.
The spare time they have is spent on social media, television, and trying to please their significant other.
All of these lead to one thing: eventual burnout.
Here’s my recommendation on how to fall in love with yourself again if you’ve forgotten what that feels like due to burnout:
- Set aside at least an hour per week to be all by yourself
- Disconnect from all distractions (TV, phone, kids, and your significant other)
- Go somewhere quiet and relax, meditate, visualize, write in your journal, or do whatever solo activity you prefer
There are 168 hours in a week, so you can rest easy knowing that your world won’t crumble just because you took out an hour for yourself in an entire week.
Want to learn more tips on making time for yourself? Read this post.
5. Reconnect with Your Core Being
Whether you call it your mind or spiritual self, reconnecting with your core being allows you to know yourself better and love yourself more.
How do you connect with your spiritual self and recharge?
Try meditation – it’s one of my favorite go-to spiritual exercises when I spend time alone with myself. At other times, I spend a chunk of time repeating my favorite affirmations until I feel a shift in my being.
Here’s the thing, though.
Don’t do any exercise that you’re not comfortable doing. If you are religiously inclined, find something that resonates with your belief system.
On the other, if you don’t subscribe to any religion and spiritual exercises sound too woo-woo for your liking, it is okay to do whatever lifts your spirits and makes you feel alive.
6. Surround Yourself With Supportive, Positive People
You might not be able to choose your work colleague, classmates, or neighbors, but you can be picky about the people you let into your trusted social circle.
One of the ways to deeply love yourself is by creating healthy relationships filled with caring, supportive, and positive people who can nudge you on when things look bleak.
I recommend reading this post to learn more about surrounding yourself with positive people.
7. Treat Yourself Compassionately
Treat yourself as you would your best friend. This is undoubtedly one of most people’s most difficult aspects of self-love.
However, it gets easier once you master the act of reframing negative self-talk and self-recrimination.
See yourself as a human, regardless of any societal standards. Many of those standards put unreasonable pressure on you to be what you’re not.
Tell yourself it is okay to be imperfect, and it is okay not to have a model’s body. Tell yourself that you’re doing your best to eat right, live right, accomplish your goals, and be happy, and that’s more than enough.
Pat yourself on the back for any and every accomplishment, no matter how small. In a nutshell, be your own best friend that you can lean on for emotional support.
8. Practice Self-Care
Go beyond emotional kindness to physical kindness by practicing self-care.
Expensive spa treatment readily comes to mind when people talk about self-care, but you don’t have to break the bank to engage in behaviors and activities that promote healthy living.
Here are a few ways to practice self-care that doesn’t involve visiting a luxury spa:
- Eat healthily
- Do regular exercise
- Drink about four to six cups of water daily
- Have a warm bath
- Sit in the sun
- Get enough sleep at night
9. Do Something You Love
Find something you are good at and do it as often as possible.
Most people who struggle with self-love don’t think highly of themselves, leading to self-deprecating thoughts and low self-esteem.
But if you focus your time and energy on what you are good at, you prove to yourself over and over again that you can do something fulfilling and worthwhile. This increases your sense of accomplishment and self-worth.
If you’re looking for how to fall in love with yourself, go ahead to explore your gifts and talents. What do you enjoy doing, writing, singing, playing an instrument, or gardening?
Cultivating your skills, gifts, or talent will increase your confidence and make you proud of yourself.
10. Challenge Your Fears
While doing something you’re great at is good, there is no real growth if you stay in your comfort zone.
Embrace your fears and do something challenging because the thing you fear the most contains the seed of growth and success.
11. Trust Your Gut Instincts
Constant self-doubt isn’t a healthy state of mind to grow your confidence and trust yourself. If you must love yourself fully, you should be able to trust yourself completely.
Listen to your instincts, follow your intuition, and make your own decisions.
This can be a bit scary because you’ll likely make mistakes, but that’s fine. It is all a part of the human growth process.
12. Forgive Yourself
I’ve saved my best tip for last!
It’s difficult to genuinely love someone if you’re full of bitterness and grudges against them. The same is true for yourself, which is why forgiving yourself is crucial for self-love to work.
Everyone makes mistakes, and that’s okay because it shows that you are making progress.
Let go of past mistakes and stop punishing yourself for them. Leave mistakes in the past, where they belong, and focus your attention on the present, where your power lies. Do this consistently, and you’ll fall deeply in love with yourself and be impressed with how much progress you are making.
Signs You Are In Love With Yourself
Reading tips on how to fall in love with yourself is one thing; consistently practicing what you read is a different ball game. As you already know, you can only get the results you seek when you put these tips into action regularly.
While your world won’t magically change overnight, you’ll know that self-love is working for you when you notice the following signs:
- You consider yourself highly, and it shows in your language: Instead of thinking and saying things like, “I am such a loser,” you’ll find yourself saying, “I may not be perfect, but that’s okay. I am getting better every day.”
- You stop negative self-talk dead in its track: When self-love kicks in, it reflects in positive self-verbalization. You’ll notice that you tend to catch and stop negative self-statements even before you finish them.
- You will be more accepting of others: Judging others will gradually become alien to you as you love yourself more deeply. You’ll realize that it is okay for people to be who they are, just as you are different and unique. Most importantly, you’ll find that you have more time for the people in your life.
- You don’t feel easily intimidated: Before actively practicing self-love, your go-to response may be cowering in fear when faced with intimidating situations. However, all that will start to change, and you’ll notice that you stand up for yourself when you truly love yourself.
- You will let go of toxic people: Loving yourself helps you create healthy boundaries to keep negative people out of your life. And while the thought of losing people might sound a bit scary, no one can steal your joy if you genuinely love yourself. I recommend reading these tips on living your best life and not letting anyone rain on your parade.
Conclusion
There you have it; 12 tips on how to fall in love with yourself. If you’re struggling with self-acceptance or want to increase your self-appreciation level, I recommend bookmarking this page so you can easily come back to it anytime you want a refresher course in self-love.
