February 14th is a day reserved for love. Couples everywhere use this day to buy each other gifts and express their love for each other in the most romantic ways possible. All over social media, we will read long posts, see date night pictures, and gush over flowers, candy, stuffed animals, and other trinkets of love. Now, don’t get me wrong, these things are nice. And, I’ll for sure be looking for my share of flowers, balloons, and candy, but I also want to pose a challenge to you this Valentine’s Day. I want to talk about how to practice self-love.

As women, we get super wrapped up in finding the perfect gift for our significant others, kids, and maybe even our friends. And if that makes you happy, please continue doing it. But, I also want to challenge you to show yourself some love this Valentine’s Day.
As the poster child for self-care, I’ve made it my personal mission to encourage, promote, and normalize putting yourself first. We have to ignore the voices that tell us that self-care is selfish. If you truly love yourself, then you know that caring for yourself is essential for your overall well-being and the well-being of those people around you.
Why is Self-Love Important?
Self-love means being kind to yourself. It includes being grateful for who you are and being you unapologetically. Even though self-love is a tad bit different from self-care, the two essentially go hand-in-hand. With people being so quick to pass judgment and openly express their opinions of you, self-love is important. To keep from letting what others think of you cloud your opinion of yourself, you have to love yourself! You have to be your own fan. This does not happen without intentionally adopting self-love habits regularly.
Being kind to yourself it’s not incredibly difficult. Speaking to and about yourself using kind words and affirmations is one way to practice self-love. My best suggestion for practicing self-love is being yourself and being proud to be who you are. Here are some other things that you can do right now to practice self-love:
- Use positive affirmations.
- Commit to exercising more.
- Make healthier eating choices more often.
- Surround yourself with positive people.
- Follow your dreams and passions.
- Get more sleep.
- Set boundaries in your life.
These are just a few ways to help you learn to show yourself love more often. Just as you put energy into showing others that you love them, you need to put some of that energy into loving yourself.

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