Hello, everyone! One of my goals for the month of February, and for 2023 as a whole, is to focus on appreciating and loving myself a bit more. This is such an important and often overlooked mindset. Being content with yourself is usually conflated with being prideful. So many modern marketing tactics thrive off of people’s insecurities. The beauty industry, fitness programs, and more push the idea that you just need to buy their product or service to be lovable. My goal is to actively combat this narrative and instead push the idea you are already worth it. I want to share a few of my tips on learning to love yourself more so you can join me on this journey.
1. Appreciate Where You Are Now
Firstly, I want to discuss appreciating where you are now. Sometimes I see the sentiment that loving yourself means you’ll be incapable of growing. Frankly, I don’t think this is accurate. Appreciating yourself doesn’t mean pretending you’re a perfect person. We all have areas we’d like to work on. The problem comes when you believe you’re only worth love when you’ve accomplished your goals. Appreciating yourself is about recognizing how far you’ve already come. It’s about acknowledging the fact you have value just for existing. You don’t have to achieve perfection in order to be worthy of love and kindness.
2. Think About Who You’re Trying To Impress
Next, I want to talk about who we set our goals for. Too often we pursue things just because it’s a social norm. The truth is no matter what you do someone still won’t like you. It’s impossible to please everyone since we all have different opinions. My advice is to think carefully about whose opinion you give weight to. At the end of the day, you are the one who has to live your life, not anyone else. It’s important to make sure you like who you are.
However, that’s not to say you shouldn’t take advice at all. It can be extremely beneficial to have loved ones whose opinions you trust, but you should be mindful not to take opinions from everyone. Ask yourself who will have your best interests in mind. Who will still support you if your life isn’t exactly like theirs? Who will think about your goals rather than the latest trends? These are all questions to ask yourself when you think about what opinions to give weight to.
3. Recognize Your Good Qualities
Thirdly, let’s talk about recognizing our good qualities. This ties in heavily to tip #1. You have amazing traits right now, currently. It’s important to see them. Too often we have a tendency to think in extremes – either we’re perfect people or we’re complete failures. Realistically, we’re all somewhere in between.
Maybe you are a kind person who thinks about others. Maybe you’re a great pet parent. You might be the funny friend who brightens everyone’s day. The point is, you have good qualities. Sit down and ask yourself what they are. If you’re truly struggling to come up with them, don’t be afraid to ask your loved ones what they like about you. It’s important to come up with your own list eventually, but a list from loved ones will work until you can come up with one. I find it helpful to go over this list whenever I’m feeling especially insecure.
I hope these tips are helpful to you. Feel free to let me know your tips for learning to love yourself in the comments or on any of my social media platforms!
Have A Great Day,
Elliot J. West
Leave a Reply