One of the hardest things to learn is how to love yourself. It’s no easy feat.
Spending each day picking away at the imperfections we see in ourselves is tiring and depressing. It changes our attitudes, our moods and our relationships, so why do we allow these imperfections to define us and rule our lives?
Loving yourself comes from having healthy self-esteem and self-confidence. And, just like with everything else in this world, these things come with practice.
There are ways we can work on our personal levels of self-esteem so we can, one day, be in love with who we are as individuals. Here are four strategies for accomplishing this:
Learn To Take Compliments
Compliments are great! They make you feel special and good inside, but only if you let them. It's easy to uniformly reject compliments or to act too modest to embrace them.
Many of us attribute our looks or successes to anything but ourselves. If someone compliments our hair color, it's just because we dye it monthly. If someone thinks we lost weight, we disregard the comment because think we could lose more. The bottom line is, we must stop rejecting the nice things people say.
Compliments are intended to boost your confidence. So, when someone compliments you, don’t fight it. Smile, say thank you and enjoy the moment.
Learn To Give Compliments
Women can be vicious. We tear down each other behind our backs like it is our job. We look through other girls' Facebook pictures and pick out every negative aspect we can find. We look for these flaws in other people to feel better about ourselves.
But, in the end, it doesn’t change who we are or what we feel, it just makes us mean. Instead, learn how to give compliments because it surprisingly boosts our own self-esteem.
Over time, you will start to learn that different people are great in different ways and in all aspects of life, so it’s silly to compare yourself to anyone and everyone.
So, compliment people! Like people’s Facebook pictures and Instagram posts. Even if she has the most amazing legs in the world and you hate her for it, give her a compliment. Recognizing other people’s beauty and successes will eventually help you recognize your own.
Remember Why You Love Being You
It is a problem when a girl can rattle off 10 things about herself she doesn’t like, but has trouble conjuring positive qualities about herself. Everyone has a million amazing qualities that too many choose to ignore because they are so focused on the negatives.
When you wake up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror and list five things you love about yourself, whether it is your looks, personality, accomplishments or anything else. Doing this will not only make you feel better about yourself, but also start your day on a positive note.
We must pretend we are in relationships with ourselves and routinely tell ourselves how much we love, admire and enjoy who we are. Get a little cocky.
Be proud; be full of yourself; be anything that will put a smile on your face. A compliment from others feels good, but when you compliment yourself and truly believe it, it feels amazing.
Do More Of What You Love
Anyone would agree that when doing something enjoyable, we are genuinely happy, especially if it is something in which we thrive.
When you are in the zone, doing what you love and doing something at which you know you are really f*cking good, you are your best self because your self-confidence is at an all-time high.
So, leave time for yourself to take a break from life and do the things that make you happy.
A healthy level of self-esteem comes from living a healthy and happy life. If you feel down about yourself at times, or feel like you are not where you want to be, doing these things will help you find your confidence. You're stuck with yourself forever, so you might as well be in love.
