How to Create a Self-Love Routine
"Your Relationship With Yourself is the Most Defining Factor in Shaping the Kind of Life You Live."
- Grant Hilary Brenner
what is self love?
Self-love is taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others.
You cannot love yourself, until you know yourself.
When is the last time you took yourself on a date?
When is the last time you discovered something new about yourself?
When is the last time you felt really connected, to you?
As women we spend so much of our time tending to the needs of others, and living our lives based on what's expected of us, that we have lost who we truly are. By not prioritizing ourselves, we have forgotten what we love. What makes us unique and powerful. What makes us, us.
You cannot live your best life, if you're not being your best self. You need to learn to give yourself permission to put YOU first. To acknowledge what you need and to show up for yourself. To get to know yourself on a deeper level. A level that allows you to love yourself and everything that makes you, you.
Love YOU. Nourish YOU. Be friends with YOU. Embrace YOU.
What Happens When You Do Not Love & Prioritize Yourself?
You constantly feel exhausted and burnt out
You compare your life and yourself to others
You never feel like you are good enough
You are constantly filled with a longing for more
You blame your unhappiness on the people around you
You feel disconnected from yourself and what you really want in life
How to create a self-love routine:
Creating a self-love routine is creating a promise to yourself. A promise to stop putting everyone else's needs above your own. A promise to listen to your own soul and honor what lives there. A promise to love yourself first.
Step 1. Give up the need for approval from others. This is your journey and what other people expect of you is not your concern. Give yourself permission to put yourself first.
Step 2. EMBRACE yourself. Challenge yourself to practice one embrace item every single day {See below}.
Step 3. Write it out. Written words have the power to create change. Keep a journal for gratitude. positive affirmations. and goal setting. When you can shift your mind into a positive space, you can look at yourself from a new light.
Step 4. Be persistent. Learning to love yourself takes time and dedication. It takes consistently showing up for yourself and knowing that you are worth it!
How to embrace yourself:
E - Educate Yourself
Find a new and challenging way to expand your knowledge. Your mind is your most powerful tool, feed it accordingly. Listen to a new podcast. Try an online class. Learn a new art form. Attend a webinar.
M - Meditate Regularly
Meditation allows you to pause, reflect and find the silence within yourself. In the silence you can connect to your inner most desires
B - Be Grateful
Gratitude changes your energy from a place of lack, to a place of abundance. Find 5 things to be grateful for everyday. Write them down.
R - Rest Often
When you take the time to rest, to be still, you nurture the deepest parts of your soul. Relax. Get enough sleep. Take a social media break. Sit in the quiet. Whatever stills your mind and nourishes your soul, do that.
A - Be Active
Challenging yourself, and your body, are a great way awaken new parts of your soul. Try a new yoga practice. Go for a run. Join a new team sport. Go for a walk in nature. Try to move your body daily and connect with a different part of yourself.
C - Connect with Yourself
What is something that YOU love to do? Allowing yourself to honor that, allows you to reconnect with your authentic self. Read a book. Take a bath. Paint. Write. Cook. Sing. Dance. Whatever sets your soul on fire and reminds you of who you are.
E - Eat
Food should not only nourish our bodies, but it should feed our souls. Share a meal with a friend. Indulge yourself. Savor the time it takes to prepare and eat. Enjoy!
Loving yourself is something that you need to work on every day because how you love yourself, is how you love others.
Stacey Foley is a Certified Meditation & Spiritual Wellness Teacher, Inspirational Speaker & Wellness Blogger.