In this day and age, it is important to love yourself first. Everyone else loves and respects themselves. And that means that they are going to put themselves first. Even before you. You might end up feeling unloved and disrespected if you don’t toughen up too. It sounds unfair and selfish, right? You are taught to believe that—to give unfailingly. This type of behavior sets you up for heart break. You have to learn to love yourself in order to live a fulfilling life.

Loving yourself above anyone else helps you in a number of ways. It ensures your good mental health. Loving yourself first means respecting yourself and having boundaries. It means not being a doormat. It means wholly accepting yourself, flaws and all. No one is perfect. No one is better than you. We are all equal.

WHY YOU SHOULD LOVE YOURSELF FIRST

It’s not conceited or selfish to love yourself. Especially if you feel down-trodden by other people. You need to put yourself above other people. Your health and safety come before others. Please put yourself first. You are in position to endanger your life, your job or your security by not respecting yourself.

Loving yourself means you are willing to grow yourself and work on yourself. It means you recognize that you need to improve yourself every day. You are enough as you are, but are willing to go further. Let’s learn how to love yourself first.

7 Steps on How to Love Yourself First  

Check out these 7 easy tactics on how to love yourself first:

1 | Set boundaries

for how to love yourself first: Set boundaries. Loving yourself first means putting yourself above others. Sometimes we give too much to other people, often-times at a disadvantage to ourselves. Write a list of things you are not allowed to do. Don’t bend over backwards to do things for people.

2 | Be positive

People who don’t love themselves first tend to be negative in their lives. Stop being negative. Don’t think of the worst outcome of an event. Instead, think positive. Try to counter automatic negative thoughts with positive ones. It takes practice, but soon you will be positive by default.

3 | Seek out your good qualities

Actively seek out your good qualities. This is a crucial step to loving yourself first. Think about all the things you’re good at. I’m sure they are more than 3. List them down. Even if you find it difficult, appreciate that you are a phenomenal human being. This is a great way to learn how to love yourself first.

4 | Treat yourself

Take yourself out, do face masks, have long soothing baths with essential oils, anything that can make you feel good. Take care of your body. It makes you feel loved and cared for by your won self. 

5 | Believe that you are worth it

“I am worth it”. Say this to yourself right now. Say it to yourself every day. Because it’s the truth. We are all equal; even though some people have it better or worse than us. You deserve good things. You deserve the best. Believe this in your heart. Make it a conscious thought in your life. Use this tactic to learn how to love yourself first.

6 | No one has the manual on how to live

One thing you need to know is that no one was born knowing how to live. We’re all here trying to figure it out. It takes years for some people. There’s no one better than you at life. There is no manual on how to live life. We are all born with a clean slate. We make ourselves.

7 | You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone

You really don’t. You don’t need anyone to know how amazing or cool you are. Take a look at this quote from Maya Angelou, “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anyone.” You can’t impress everyone. You can only impress the people who chose to be impressed by you. Don’t be an open book. Let people discover you gem by gem.

Live Your Life with Love for Yourself

It might take a while to learn to love yourself, but it is worth it. You will learn many lessons in this journey to love yourself. You might make mistakes, but these mistakes will help you. Practice different forms of self love every day. Find yourself. Accept yourself. This is when you will learn how to love yourself first.

Love,

AppleKhaye