My thoughts on the importance of self-love and self care as we approach Valentine’s Day…
I think it’s easy to ridicule and scoff at the term “self-love”. It’s being bandied about all over the place right now isn’t it? And the quote about putting your own breathing mask first before helping others is used so often that I find it starting to grate.
BUT I do want to be a strong advocate for self-love and self care. The last few years have allowed me to see the importance of each as well as the link between them.
I am sure we all know that life has many ups and downs and that each of us experience the highs and the lows in our own unique way. I believe that finding ways to care for and love ourselves can help smooth the ride.
My increased interest in my own personal development several years ago led me to learn more about the importance of self care and self-love. So many of the things (books, articles, magazines, blog posts, podcasts) I “studied” to grow and learn mentioned self care and/or self-love. All roads led to LOVING MYSELF, TAKING CARE OF MYSELF and BEING KIND TO MYSELF.
I have found that looking after myself is a method of self-love. I have also found that when my self-love is lacking I struggle more with self care. The two things are intrinsically linked.
Who Am I?
I am a:
Mother
Wife
Daughter
Sister
Friend
Grand-daughter
Aunt
Niece
Cousin
And so many other things to other people.
But first of all, I am ME!
I can be all those things in that list above and still be uniquely me.
Getting to know myself better, learning to take better care of myself and allowing myself the kindness I extend to others all help me understand the importance of self-love.
I intend to continue finding ways to take better care of myself. And I also want to do “more work” at loving myself even when I think I’m failing at self care. Forgiveness and being gentle with myself is something I need to work on.
Our self-love and self care “journeys” should be a life-long experience.
How I learnt to Love Myself, Take Care of Myself and Be Kind to Myself
These are some of the things I’ve done which have helped me with self care and self-love.
- Writing a list of 100 things I love – creating a collection of things that bring me joy and contentment. The list is a mixture of experiences, objects and feelings. Taking the time to really think about what I love helped me know myself better (time for another Rumi quote: “whatever you love, you are”!)
- Daily Self Nurturing Activities
- Morning Pages
- Yoga
- Defining my Values
- Discovering my Core Desired Feelings
- Keeping a Gratitude Journal
All of these things have helped me see the wholeness of myself. Have helped me to recognise myself and to admire myself.
I still have much to learn about taking good care of myself and loving myself but all of these activities above have given me a good start.
I hope to return to this list and add to it as I learn and understand more about the importance of self-love and self care.
What are your thoughts on self-love and self care? Do you think they are linked or completely different?