Self Love Means Making Yourself a Priority

 

When was the last time you told yourself that you are enough? How about the last time you did something just for you?

Loving ourselves is not always the easiest task. Many of us find it’s much easier and simpler to put our time and energy towards friends and family than it is to love ourselves.

I want place more importance on my own self love. And to show others how essential it is to invest in the relationship with themselves because we are the only people in charge of our own happiness.

Many of us fail to prioritize ourselves – we often place the needs of others before our own, which means when life gets busy, we end up compromising our own beliefs and desires. The saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup” couldn’t be more fitting. More often than not, our well-being takes a backseat as we go about our day checking off our to-do lists, prioritizing others' needs over our own.

When you fly, if you’re traveling with someone who you’re caring for, you’re instructed to put on our own oxygen mask first before helping others secure theirs. We are no good to anyone passed out on the floor, let alone ourselves.

Prioritizing ourselves means we are giving ourselves time and attention to focus on our needs, desires, goals, and wants. It also means we give ourselves the same compassion, understanding, and priority that we do to other people.

When we consider what we need in life to feel good about ourselves – whether its having a hobby, joining a team, assessing our values, etc.–we will love ourselves first. It is so important to love ourselves first. When we love ourselves we chase the things we deserve and let go of what doesn’t bring we joy.

Loving ourselves means having the self-respect to say goodbye to people bringing we down. It involves forcing ourselves to go after the things we want most in life. It means ignoring the critics because haters gonna hate but they won’t bring we down. When we love ourselves we exude confidence and only then can we really be selfless.

Sometimes these practices take time, but little habits create big changes when we do them every day. At the end of the day, remember this: to give our best, we have to feel our best. Invest in ourselves, spend time doing what we love, and be kind and compassionate when we make mistakes. we are deserving of all the love and attention in the world.

Self-care does not have to be a lavish and expensive priority. It can be as simple as turning our phone on silent to read our new book or enjoying a cup of hot tea after a long day. We deserve to allow ourselves to find something that brings us joy every day and make it a priority.

Practicing self-love isn't a “one and done” event. It takes time and consistency to cultivate a new attitude towards self-worth and growth. Allow ourselves to be present each day and proud of the small victories.  We must make ourselves a priority to give ourselves the time to be present for ourselves.

With social media, it is becoming easier and easier to compare our life to others in just a single post. It is crucial to remind ourselves daily that each person has their own specific path in life and no two paths look the same. Taking a break from social media at times can be a good practice of self-love as well.

Self-love means prioritizing surrounding ourselves with people that care about us and make us smile. As obvious as this sounds, it is easy to ignore this practice altogether. Take a moment to go through the people that are closest to us and determine if they make we smile on a daily basis. If we are finding it hard to determine if they do or not, it is time to do what is best for we and our health. If these people do not make us feel loved, supported, cared for, and make us smile, it it time to eliminate these people from our lives – EVEN if they are family.

Making ourselves a priority means focusing more on the things we love. This practice looks different for everyone. Write down a list of the top five things that make you happy. This can be hobbies, people, and/or events that bring you the most joy in a healthy, positive and worthwhile way. Once you determine your favorite people, places, events, and/or hobbies, plan out your days to participate in them. Allow yourself the time to do more things you love and you will find a more balanced and fulfilled, worthwhile, life.

Making time for ourselves is vitally important in any relationship. Without the ability to focus on ourselves, it’s easy to fall into unhealthy patterns of codependency and lose our sense of identity. Ultimately, our relationship with our own head and heart are the most crucial ones to nurture, and these will affect all other relationships in our lives, whether they be romantic, platonic or familial. Healthy boundaries, open communication and prioritizing alone time are key ingredients to a strong relationship.

This can be a tricky balance in the best of times, but since the beginning of the pandemic and many people transitioning to working from home, this has put an immense amount of added stress on romantic relationships. When living with your partner, it can be very difficult to protect your alone time when you’re both at home constantly. And even if you don’t live together, with the limited number of activities available and the lowered number of people we’re allowed to see these days, setting aside time for self-love and growth outside of your partnership has even less of a road map than it did before.

But the added challenge of creating time for ourselves in today’s climate of external strains means that it’s just as crucial, if not more so, for both our mental health and the health of our relationships to make ourselves and self care a priority. While every relationship dynamic is different, it is invaluable to prioritize ourselves when you’re in a partnership.

If we observe our daily routine, we will find that there are countless things that steal our “self-care” time and make us feel miserable. Do not let technology keep you from appreciating the beautiful gifts that life has for you. Time that is dedicated to ourselves will bring us even closer to our inner person. We can listen to music, take a walk alone, write stories, daydream or just sit quietly for a few minutes, just as long as we are just being with ourselves.

It is said, “success makes us feel great but failures bring along an eternal feeling of satisfaction when we love ourselves.” When we love being us and celebrate our love for ourselves every single moment, our inner happiness does not depend upon our success or failure, as we are always able to treat ourselves as our own best friend. We live a complete life that has a perfect balance of everything we need to be an overall developed individual.

We must not ignore our inner calling. Our inner voice guides us the best since no us knows better than us. It may be difficult to make a decision when we get stuck in life but when we follow our instincts, life gives us a way of realizing our dreams and happiness. When we listen to our own hearts, we will rarely regret our decisions, even when we face setbacks.

A little shift in our attitude towards prioritizing ourselves can actually bring us closer to success and happiness. The secret of a happy and a healthy life is loving ourselves the way we are regardless of anything else.

Here are some suggestions for becoming more of a priority in your life:

• Make time for YOU. Schedule it. Put it on your calendar. Make it a date.

• Practice self-compassion – be kind to yourself, speak kind to yourself.

• STOP feeling guilty – for saying no, for turning down invitations and for changing your mind.

• Practice saying NO – practice with a friend you trust. Say no to things you don't want to do.

• Learn to love your imperfections – accept them, embrace them. They aren't going anywhere. Make peace with them.

• It's ok to ask for help – asking for help is a sign of strength – not a sign of weakness.

• Let go of the need for control – control is an illusion. The only thing any of us have control of is ourselves.

• Embrace your emotions – emotions are what make us human, vulnerable, and alive.

• Surround yourself with encouraging, positive people – negative people are energy draining. And encouraging, positive people are energy giving.

• Start a Gratitude Journal – this has been my greatest strength. There is always something to be grateful for – write it down.

• Believe you are more than enough - At the end of the day, you are and have always been more than enough

Prioritizing yourself is more than just saying all the right words and pampering yourself, but it's knowing what you need and deserve every day. This means saying no when someone is disrespecting your boundaries or when you're getting close to being burned out.

It's taking short breaks when you're feeling drained and it's taking the time to reflect inward.

Prioritizing yourself is knowing who you are and being content with spending time with yourself because it's how you recharge your energy.

I hope this touched you as deeply as it touched me while I wrote it.  Make yourself a priority. Make time for yourself. It's okay to unplug! 

Please leave me your thoughts and comments below. I would greatly appreciate it! And don't forget to subscribe so you are notified when a new blog is posted. 

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