I'm fully aware that the title of this blog post seems incredibly narcissistic. Maybe if you have just stumbled across this blog post, you think I'm really big-headed or full of myself. I'll tell you one thing. I am definitely not. Self-love is so important, yet it's seen as being self-indulgent or self-obsessed. No wonder, many have never practised self-love at all.
Self-love is the practice of being kind to yourself. Self-love is being able to recognise that you are doing the best you can, given your situation. Self-love involves not beating yourself up for trying your hardest. You wouldn't constantly criticise your friends so why do we do it to ourselves? We are constantly too fat, too thin, too stupid, too intelligent, just not good enough.
But to who's standards? Who says that big isn't beautiful? Who says being intelligent isn't attractive? Society. But not everyone in society agrees. The person who's being paid to write that trashy magazine article about worse dressed celebrities or how to lose five pounds overnight, could be sat that in a tracksuit, scoffing themselves with a McDonalds. You just don't know.
So before you start criticising yourself, next time think about who you are trying to impress. I know your self-criticism will be pointless. If you don't know where to start, with self-love write a list of 30 things you love about yourself. If you struggle with 30, start with a smaller number and work your way up.
Here's my list:
1) My big brown eyes
2) My thick long eyelashes
3) My full lips
4) My long thick hair
5) My ridiculous laugh
6) The Rate at which my fingernails grow
7) My intelligence
8) My dedication to my work and revision for college
9) My loving and kind nature
10) How supportive I am of other people
11) I am happy to express my myself with my clothes and hair colour
12) My sense of humour which I get from my dad
13) My witty one liners
14) My determination to not let my mental health problems define me
15) How passionate I am about supporting other people with mental health problems
15) My imagination
16) My creativity
17) I'm happy to give up my time for volunteering
18) My smile
19) My music taste
20) My great taste in horror films
21) My organisation skills
22) How much of a perfectionist I am
23) My time keeping skills
24) My attitude to everything I do. Everything I do must be my best effort.
25) My determination to keep going no matter what life throws at me.
27) My willingness to get better
28) My unselfish nature
29) I'm a good listener
30) I will always do the best I can, and that's all I can do.
I hope I have encouraged some of you to practice self-love more often. Even if it's just starting with a small list of things you love about yourself. I promise it's not narcissistic. Self-love has some real noticeable benefits.
I would love to know your opinions on self-love in the comments below and if you have made a list like this or if you encouraged to now after reading this post.
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