Self-love breeds confidence, and once we’re confident, the sky’s the limit. Self-love sets a good foundation for us to take care of all of the other people and responsibilities in our lives. Self-love improves relationships, it helps us be better communicators and it allows us to set the standard for the behaviors we tolerate from ourselves and others. A woman who loves and accepts herself, is fearless.
Realize Why Everyone Around You Thinks You’re Pretty Spectacular!!
Make a list of your top ten qualities. They can be serious like you are a great listener, you are trustworthy, or silly, like you always call people back, you have neat penmanship, your cookies are always the first to sell out at the bake sale. Keep copies of it in your wallet, in your car, in your nightstand. Use it as a bookmark, make a magnet out of it. “Affirmations” have been around for years, for a reason- they work. Once you realize that you are pretty unique and special, it’s so much easier to start loving yourself.
Get Passionate About Something, Anything
When we are passionate about something, we don’t have time to worry about things that really don’t matter, and we just feel good about ourselves. We become more attractive to others, and more importantly, we become attractive to ourselves.
So, whether we set a goal and get passionate about achieving it, or we take up a hobby and make it a part of our lives, we need to fuel the fire inside of us. You’ll soon begin to pour that passion into every area of your life!
A Little Lip Gloss Goes A Long Way
Alright, this is why makeover shows are so popular. In reality, if we take just a few minutes on the “outside” we feel better. If we take too many minutes (aka spend hours in the mirror) we can get caught up in that stuff and become overly-critical or dare I say “shallow”. So, stick to some basic grooming 101: tweeze the eyebrows, whiten the teeth, press your shirt, wear clothes that fit, accentuate your best features- you can even stop in a department store on a not-so-busy day and ask the make-up counter to give you a little crash course in make-up (trust me- buy a lipstick and they’re glad to do it).
It’s a “Must”
I know that self-love can feel “selfish” when we have so much to take care of in our lives. But, it’s actually selfless.
Think about it- won’t your co-workers love it when you are smiling on a Monday morning instead of hiding in the cubicle grunting? I think the kids will have a blast with a mom who laughs out loud, and exudes confidence when trying to raise confident children. The point is spend some well-deserved “you” time on a regular basis, and you’ll start to see that contagious spark positively affect everyone in every area of your life. Self-love is truly essential especially when we’re busy, with lots going on, and lots of other people to love.
I enjoyed reading this article. It makes a lot of sense.
Confidence is one of my favorite traits, as I believe lack of confidence and self-esteem is one of the easiest ways to sell ourselves short. Confidence is in my view something which essentially comes from the inside. It is a reflection of the beliefs we use to interpret reality.
So confidence and esteem can be gained by changing our outer reality, by it is most often gained by changing our inner one.
Cheers,
Eduard
Thanks, Eduard!! You are so right, I agree it must come from within, and then it has a circular effect from the inside-out. I love how you put that it is a reflection of the beliefs we use to “interpret reality”, because our perception is our reality. Warmly, Jennifer
This is such a great blog post! I’m just starting to really understand the importance of self love. I read another good blog post at http://www.jasminbalance.com/2011/01/10/accept-and-love-yourself-in-10-simple-steps/ that helped me as well.
Hi, Larissa!! Love the blog post on Jasmin Balance, thank you for sharing!! Yes, self-love is so important – it is the foundation of everything! We can’t take care of others on a weak foundation!!