7 Ways to Take the Time to Love Yourself a Little More Every Day

I have noticed in recent times that loving yourself is a learning curve that can take a great deal of time. It is like getting to know someone and putting in the time and effort to become their friend. The only difference is that you already know what you like and dislike, your dreams and fears, what triggers you, and what brings you joy. It takes conscious effort to degrade ourselves. However, if we put in the same amount of effort into loving ourselves a little more each day, it could change us for the better. We could see ourselves for who we actually are.

1. Find Your Favorite Characteristics and Shine

Find the characteristics about yourself that you love. What parts of your personality do you enjoy? Are you funny? Witty? Compassionate? Knowledgeable? Talented? Fashionable? Kind? Creative?

Find all the parts of yourself that you like and make a list. Compliment yourself on these characteristics. When you are done, allow those parts of you to shine more.

Be funny with your coworkers. Be kind to a stranger. Share your knowledge. Share your talent. I understand that being yourself to the full extent can be scary, but you deserve to highlight these amazing features that you have.

2. Recognize Your Small Achievements

It can be hard to see the small achievements we make each and every day, but we need to! Instead of looking around at the stuff we still have to do, let's look at everything we have done.

We took out the trash! We did the dishes! We made dinner for our family! We went to work and made money for our family to live on! We got our kids to bed at a decent hour! We paid your bills!

I know that this seems silly. How can taking out the trash be an achievement? It's an achievement because you are doing the little things to better your living environment.

You could have left the trash where it was and let it overflow with garbage, stinking up your house, but you didn't.

You have to recognize that everything you do doesn't go unnoticed. You are appreciated more than you think. Now, you just need to appreciate yourself.

3. Take Care of Your Body

I have found that this is one of the most necessary things we need to do and yet it is the hardest to do. It is important to put healthy food into our bodies so that we can have the energy and health that we need.

Eating healthy and exercising can boost our mood as well as our energy and health. As I have learned from family and friends, eating healthy and exercising doesn't have to be painful but rather fun and enjoyable!

For instance, my husband and I enjoy hiking, biking and kayaking as our form of exercise. During the weekend most of our days are filled with these activities and we come home happy and sore. These activities have improved our sleep and energy in the mornings.

As far as eating healthy, I often try to buy foods that I know I enjoy such as salads, carrots, chicken, apples, bell peppers, bananas, salsa, guacamole, etc. I then put these items into a meal.

I'm not the best at eating healthy, but I'm working on it. One thing I learned from my friends is that I can eat whatever I want so long as I am mindful of my proportions.

4. Take Care of Your Emotional Needs

I have noticed that many of us try to be strong by putting our emotions in a bottle and then stashing that bottle away somewhere where it can't be touched for a time.

Unfortunately, later on when that bottle is taken out, the contents of the bottle bursts making a big mess for you to clean up. Who says that being strong means you feel nothing?

You have a right to feel sad. When you experience the death of a loved one for instance, grieving is a process and there is no amount of time in which you are to feel better.

You have the right to feel angry. For instance, when someone betrays your trust, forgiveness is a process as well. It is not for the other person to feel better about what they did and their relationship with you. It is a acknowledgment that you are moving forward and will not think about the incident anymore.

You have the right to feel happy for yourself. Don't let the jealousy or negativity of others diminish your light.

Feel your feelings! Once you allow yourself to feel, only then can you begin to heal and become your happiest.

5. Give Yourself a Break When You Need It

We all get stressed out from time to time. Sometimes the stress is overwhelming. That is okay! You just need to give yourself a break.

Had a bad day at work and now you have to go home make dinner? Give yourself a break! Get a pizza on the way home and have a movie night with your kids. Sometimes, you just need to do that.

It's okay to have a bad day! We all get them from time to time. Sometimes we have a whole week of bad days. It happens! Give yourself a break and give yourself some time to cool off and have some fun.

6. Treat Yourself

This may seem self-indulgent but I think it is so important! I think we should occasionally treat ourselves to Starbucks, getting our hair done, buying that shirt we wanted from Amazon, having a girl's night with our friends or getting a nice dinner somewhere.

I think we all deserve to be rewarded for all the hard work we put in each and every day. It's important to recognize these things and to reward them by treating ourselves.

7. Feel Beautiful

Remember when we talked about finding your favorite characteristics and highlighting them? It is the same with your physical features.

If you love your hair, style it the way you think it looks best whether it be with hot tools or keeping it natural.

If you love your eyes, you can highlight them with some color and mascara. If you love your skin tone, you can highlight it by wearing clothes with warm or cool tone colors.

For me personally, I love to curl my hair, apply light makeup and wear deep reds, greens and oranges. I feel beautiful when I highlight my favorite features.

Conclusion

My friends, these tips may seem simple but that is because they are! If we can take the time to do these every day, we will only begin to see our true selves. We are not the people that society paints us to be and we shouldn't try to be. We are all so different and unique! I think it's high time that we celebrate that! We need to love ourselves because it will lead us to live our best life.