Self-love and Your Mental Health

Ways to practice self-love for good mental health 

Self-love is an important part of good mental health. It means having a positive view of yourself and taking care of yourself both physically and emotionally.

Why is self-love important? 

Self-love is important because it can help you cope with difficult situations, recover from setbacks, and build a foundation for a happy and fulfilling life. When you love yourself, you are more likely to make healthy choices, stick to your goals, and be resilient in the face of adversity.

Sadly, not many of us are taught about self-love or how we can practice it. In fact, many may have the false notion that self-love is selfish. As a result, you may not know how to love or care for yourself.

Practicing self-love can help you overcome these negative messages and create a healthy view of yourself.

How to practice self-love 

Self-love doesn’t happen overnight. Instead of thinking of it as a one-time thing, you should think of it as a lifelong journey. There are many steps you can take in order to practice self-love. Here are some of them.

1. Be kind to yourself

First and foremost, you need to treat yourself with kindness and respect. Talk to yourself in a positive way and forgive yourself for your mistakes. This may sound vague, so an easy way to think of it is this: don’t think or say to yourself anything you wouldn’t say to your best friend. After all, you should be your own best friend! So, if you think it is something that would hurt your best friend’s feelings, you shouldn’t be saying it to yourself either.

2. Take care of yourself physically

How you feel is directly connected to how your body feels. Eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep so you feel your best!

3. Take care of your mental health

Do things that make you happy and help you relax. Spend time with positive people. Avoid excessive drinking and smoking.

4. Set boundaries

There are many things that can cause a person stress: work, family life, social media, the list goes on. Setting up personal boundaries is a form of self-love that you can do to minimize these unnecessary stress, In fact this should be encouraged more as this helps build strong self-trust and confidence! A great place to start is making sure that the type of social media content you consume inspires wellness and positivity. 

5. Be assertive

Stand up for yourself. Don’t let others take advantage of you. Let’s say someone in school refuses to do their part in the group project, make your voice heard! Let them know you will not allow them to take credit without doing any work.

6. Invest in your relationships

The people you are can and will affect your energy, so make sure they bring out the best in you! Surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Spend time with family and friends who make you feel good about yourself.

7. Do things that make you happy

Do things that make you feel good. Pursue your interests and hobbies. Life is too short to be spent on things that don’t add meaning to your life.

8. Accept yourself.

Accept yourself for who you are. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. There’s only one you ever, and you mean the world to so many people.

Practicing self-love is an important part of good mental health. Try applying at least one of these changes to your daily life and slowly work towards doing them all. You’ll be surprised at what a difference it can make! 

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