How to practice self-love year round

“If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me? ”- Maya Angelou

In a previous post, I wrote about 3 ways to improve self-love. Feel free to check it out, by clicking on the link above. This post explores ways to practice self-love year-round. Your definition of self-love can be influenced by many things. When you think of self-love what comes to mind for you? I would invite you to be curious about what thoughts or emotions are present for you without judging yourself for them. The relationship that you have with yourself can be influenced by many factors including life experiences. These experiences can shape how you view and treat yourself. As I wrote previously, every day is a good day to engage in self-love behaviors and activities. As you show love and appreciation to yourself you can begin to set the tone for how you would like to be treated by others. As cliche as it may sound, you have to love you first.

What is self-love?

Self-love contributes to the ability to maintain and improve emotional, behavioral and social wellbeing. Self-love is an actionable way of showing appreciation to yourself; it’s something you do. Self-love can shift, change & grow as you grow. Self-love is a practice that can be learned.  It includes self-kindness, self-acceptance and self-care.

How to practice self-love 

Self-love can look uniquely different from one person to the next. Here are a few examples of ways to practice self-love.

• Set an intention. Whether you have practiced self-love in the past or if this is new for you, it can be helpful if it is an intentional decision. Write it down, plan it out and remind yourself of your intention. Look for ways you are being intentional in your self-love practice daily.
• Be true to yourself. Do what feels right to you. When you act in harmony with your authentic self you begin to create a habit of showing up for you.
• Practice love and kindness. Treat yourself with the same love and kindness as you would if you were trying to show appreciation for someone you truly care about.
• Spend time regularly doing things you find joyful. Reflect on the last time you felt joyful, what were you doing? Were you by yourself or with others? Explore ways to create joyful moments each day.

The examples above are just a few of the many ways to practice self-love. As you incorporate self-love practices throughout your days, weeks and months it can become a year-round practice. As a recap, the relationship you have with yourself can be impacted by many things one of which is how you show love to yourself. Self-love is something you do; it takes action. The practice of self-love is learnable. Start your practice today. I would invite you to explore small ways you can practice self-love today. If you would like some additional support in identifying and improving your self-love practice don’t hesitate to reach out.

Be well,

Ebony Skinner, LPC-S

Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be or substitute treatment by a Licensed Professional Counselor.