~ It’s a journey~
Striving For Self-Love
Many say you can’t love others unless you first love yourself. I’ve always disagreed with that statement because even though it’s exhausting, I think it’s possible. However, I don’t believe It’s practical for the long-term; we tend to eventually burn out when all we’re running on are prayer fumes.
Since I am on a journey of self-improvement, self-love is something I want to work on. I hope you will also prioritize yourself in your own life if you aren’t doing so already.
According to Psychology Today, some people don’t learn to love until someone else shows love to them first. (1)
(https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-fitness/201001/you-dont-need-love-yourself-first)
This reminds me of how things work in the kingdom of God. The Bible says that we love God because He first loved us (1 John 1:4). When I think of this parallel, it gives me hope that I can learn to love myself.
If you struggle with loving yourself, I hope it helps you to know that you’re not doomed to a life without love.
How do we begin to practice self-love?
Usually, when we want to get to a destination, we start at the beginning. Since there are so many ideas on learning to love yourself, I think the best thing to do is to start somewhere!
Take care of yourself, physically
I had to start with the basics, which is taking care of my hygiene. When I’m depressed, it’s hard to get out of bed, so sometimes, a few days will go by, and I am still… lying in bed, only getting up to use the bathroom and barely eating. When I’m manic, I can take up to 5 baths daily. Currently, I’m feeling more stable and have levelled out at one bath per day. Some people even need to start with sponge baths, and that’s OK!
Practice self-acceptance
Another good thing to work on is self-acceptance; according to PsychCentral, self-acceptance is good for your physical and emotional health (https://psychcentral.com/blog/cultivating-contentment/2018/08/14-benefits-of-practicing-acceptance#1). We all know how bad stress is for our entire system. Let’s learn to forgive ourselves, making it easier to accept ourselves.
Since there are so many ways we can learn to practice self-love, I think it’s OK to focus on a few at first. We don’t want to end up beating ourselves up over not loving ourselves; what purpose would that serve?
Get rid of toxic people
I must remember that a big part of this journey toward self-love has been getting rid of toxic people. Allowing toxic people to muddy up the waters of your space will lead to poisonous venom from their negativity. Toxic people are not worth the agony and will only impede the process of trying to learn self-love.
Self-love is a skill
Self-love can mould how we interact with ourselves and the world. Since it is vital for personal growth and development, I think it’s important to learn the skill; and it IS a skill. Doing things like taking care of yourself physically, accepting yourself, and surrounding yourself with positive people (after saying goodbye to the negative) seem like a good place to start.
“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.”-Dr. Phil
I can’t be ashamed anymore of my lack of self-love. Instead, I can practice self-acceptance. Like Dr. Phil says, “You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge”, and I completely agree.
I am now standing up and stepping out to say that I am like an unfinished painting and want to use my brush to paint the rest with self-love at its core. I hope you will do the same if you have struggled with self-love.
~Thanks for reading! Until next time, stay safe, and be blessed!~
