How to Practise Self-Love and Care to Be Your Most Confident
It doesn’t matter if you’re single or in a relationship — taking care of and loving yourself is paramount to your mental health and happiness. As humans, we often exert all of our love, attention, and energy into other people in our lives, forgetting to take a moment to be kind to ourselves. This puts a drain on our emotions, our physicality, and our confidence.
Acknowledging the importance of self-love and the benefits of self-care help us to be the best people that we can be. Taking the time for either of these things is not selfish, but rather, it’s vital. After all, without capitalizing on the opportunity to learn how to practise self-love and care, we can’t be at our best to help support those we love when they need us most.
Here are ten simple self-love and self-care tips you can start incorporating into your life today.
Sleep well
Firstly, getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important self-care tips. After all, if you are not well-rested, the remainder of your day will be spent feeling groggy, sluggish, and even unhappy. On the other hand, proper sleep can reduce negative tolls on the body, such as stress, depression, and even the risk of heart disease.
Start journaling
Journaling offers the benefits of self-care by allowing us to delve into our minds and explore the root causes of why we feel the way that we do. When you write, be honest with yourself, openly jotting down your thoughts, emotions, and reasoning behind your actions.
End all toxic relationships
If you want to embrace the necessary steps of how to practise self-love and care, this is extremely important. Whether they are friendships, sexual partners, or even family members, do not hold on to relationships that cause you more harm than good. You don’t deserve that stress or reasons for self-doubt.
Eat healthy foods
Though it may not seem like one of the important self-love techniques, it is! Being mindful of what you put into your body to nourish it is vital to how it will function afterwards. Eating healthy food will enable us to operate much more easily and happily daily. This includes being careful to avoid things that are overly sweetened or processed, foods containing excess salt and fat, or those that you have an allergy or intolerance to.
Make exercise routine
This is important to self-love for many reasons, both physical and chemical. While exercising releases endorphins (the ‘feel-good’ hormone) that boosts your mood and reduces pain, it also improves your sleep, increases self-esteem, and overall. reduces stress. Keeping fit and looking your best also boosts confidence in most people. It’s a win-win all around!
Go for a walk
If possible, physically go for a walk, even if only for a short one. Simply walking outside and being in the outdoors can increase your mood and have a positive effect on your energy levels. Something this simple can impact the rest of your day for the better.
Set aside time for hobbies
So often, we find ourselves thinking about the things we’d rather be doing while engaged in the stuff we ‘must’ do (like working, cooking, cleaning). However, it’s just as essential to make time for your hobbies, too. The benefits of self-care, like doing the things that you love, will help alleviate the strains placed by day-to-day life’s mundane activities.
Take a social media break
Social media is an excellent place to network, keep in touch with (or make new) friends, gain creative ideas, or even to kill time, but it can also be a toxic environment. Give it up for a few days, longer if you can, and you’ll notice a positive difference. This is one of the self-love techniques you can truly benefit from!
Know that you are beautiful
We’ll keep this point short and sweet. You are beautiful. In acknowledging the importance of self-love and seeing yourself as the radiant, loveable, and sex-positive being that you are, your world will shift for the better.
Ask for help
A true testament to understanding how to practise self-love and care is to reach out when you need help. Whether it’s something small, like having your partner run downstairs to get the paper towel you forgot to grab because your knee hurts, calling a friend to talk to when you’re feeling down, or asking your dad if he can come by to babysit the kids while you go on a date with a promising person. If you need help, don’t be afraid — or ashamed — to ask for it.
The importance of self-love and benefits of self-care are paramount, whether you’re single or in a relationship. By taking care of and loving yourself to the fullest extent, you will exude confidence and feel that you are the best person you can be. As RuPaul says, “If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?”
Can I get an, “amen” up in here?
Which of these self-love techniques do you already use? How many of the above self-care tips will you implement in your daily life? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
