By Ava Roman
Self-love is crucial to living a full and happy life. Every day, you pour love into other people. You open your heart and let the love flow to your family, parents, spouse and children.
While being loving to others creates happiness, you shouldn’t forget to love yourself too. Self-love is tied to your self-image. If you are kind to yourself and show the same care to yourself as you do for others, you’ll feel better about yourself and improve many aspects of your life.
Here are some important reasons why you should put self-love first.
Boosts Confidence
Self-love can make you feel more confident and improve your self-esteem. You can see tangible changes in your life when you consistently take care of yourself. You’ll see improvements in your mental wellbeing, health, mood and many other areas.
Self-love can also reframe the way you think of yourself. You’ll internalize how you are worth caring for and respecting no matter what.
Fostering a good self-image helps you become more self-assured. If you understand your self-worth and how deserving you are of love and care, you’ll carry yourself more confidently.
Improves Your Health
Loving yourself is more than skincare and getting massages. It’s taking care to improve and nurture every part of your life.
Self-love can be choosing to eat better, healthier meals. Simply choosing healthier ingredients when grocery shopping is a significant form of self-love that can improve your health over time.
Committing to an exercise routine is also a form of self-love. Taking care of your body inside and out is a form of self-care that can improve your daily life.
Every action that leads to better physical and mental health is self-love. Even maintaining your home is part of it.
Even if an action seems small and insignificant, if it helps improve your health, it’s part of self-love.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety
When you neglect yourself, you’ll start feeling stressed and anxious. Everything you encounter can increase your aggravation, and you might grow worried about the future.
Both physical and psychological problems can bring on stress. For example, you might feel stressed about an upcoming event, but your lack of sleep and bad diet can aggravate the situation.
Regularly taking care of yourself can help you better cope with daily life and the problems that might come your way. Self-care can lower your body’s cortisol levels, diminishing stress and the risk of other mental health problems.
Creates Healthier Relationships
The way you treat yourself sets the tone for how others treat you. Do you care for your well-being? Do you set healthy boundaries and act with self-respect?
If you don’t treat yourself with respect, others might also not respect you. If you always put others before yourself to the detriment of your health, others will always expect that from you.
Respecting and loving yourself leads to better relationships with others. You can avoid resentment and any imbalances in relationships if you prioritize self-love.
Builds Resilience
The recent years have been challenging for everybody. There are so many difficulties in life, with many of them falling outside your control.
When you face a difficult situation, the best way to withstand and overcome it is through loving and caring for yourself. A recent study showed that self-care improved the resilience of patients suffering from chronic conditions.
Loving yourself means you give yourself space to be human in the face of challenges. You forgive yourself for things you can’t change and encourage yourself to push forward when needed. You nourish your body and mind to face whatever challenges come your way.
Improves Productivity
When you constantly give too much of yourself at work or focus too much on fulfilling your responsibilities, you can forget to take care of yourself. When that happens, it can lead to burnout and a general feeling of dissatisfaction.
When you feel burnt out, you will feel like you have nothing left to give, which can manifest into your work. You’ll achieve less, throwing you into a cycle of negative feelings.
Taking time to care for yourself and prioritize your well-being can prevent burnout and increase productivity. You will feel physically and mentally rested, so you’ll be ready to take on any tasks and challenges ahead.
Helps you Live a More Authentic Life
When you love yourself, you’re more likely to stay true to your principles. With self-love, nobody can pressure you to act against your values and self-interest.
If you don’t take care of yourself, you might become full of resentment or fatigue, which can prevent you from being your true self. Usually, you might be generous and kind, but you might not have the capacity to be those things if you’re burnt out.
Treating yourself with kindness and respect is the key to maintaining the best version of yourself.
Practicing Self-Love for a Better Life
There is power in self-love. Some might think prioritizing self-care is a selfish act. However, it can be an act of service for yourself and others. The love and care you pour into yourself will spread to everyone around you. If you harness the power of self-love, you can create a more beautiful life.
Ava Roman (she/her) is the Managing Editor of Revivalist, a women’s lifestyle magazine that empowers women to live their most authentic life. When she is not writing you’ll find Ava in a yoga class, advocating for body positivity, whipping up something delicious in the kitchen, or smashing the patriarchy.
