Just as good health benefits your success in life, the benefits of self-love on health and well-being are far-reaching. Find out how to improve your mental, physical and emotional health and live a happier, healthier life.
Much of the time, we go along in daily life unconscious of how we should be taking care of ourselves. It’s not all your fault; society programs us to take care of others first. In some cases, it’s necessary. A sick family member may be in danger without your care. In all other cases, your self-care is more important.
Self-love is necessary to want self-care, and self-care is essential for self-love.
First, I’ll address some important points before we get to the Top 5 benefits of self-love. It’s no good providing this if you don’t know how to get there, right? Let’s show you what that journey looks like.
How do I Love Myself?
You develop self-love by understanding yourself as thoroughly as possible. Below are practical steps to achieving self-love so you can reap the benefits.
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Get a Clean, Fresh Journal—Make it a Self-Love Treat! Use it like this:
Use a journal and track what you do each day. Record what types of thoughts you have and how you speak to yourself. Think about how you would speak to someone you love. If what you say to yourself regularly doesn’t reflect the same, it’s time to change it.
Use the same journal to write 5 compliments a day about yourself. Many people find this awkward. The feeling comes from the conditioning I mentioned earlier. It may be normal to feel this way, but it’s unhealthy and needs to be done away with prior to developing genuine self-love.
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What do I do if I feel guilty for loving myself?
Look at Guilt a Different way:
The guilt you have about prioritizing your health and well-being is what we’re after. Even if you were caring for a relative or friend, you can’t do it all yourself. The kids are another avenue to unnecessary guilt.
Open up your communication with them and let them and others know that your cup is empty; meaning, you must fill your own needs first in order to give to them properly. If your guilt stems from an adult, then look at it as a reflection on them and not you.
If it’s an older person with a brain or other medical issue, then we must accept that, and do what we need for ourselves first to care for them properly and adjust for them accordingly.
If it’s a spouse, friend or partner, then reevaluate how you may have allowed yourself to be taken advantage of or, if feeling guilty is within you. If it’s a child, then eventually they’ll understand why you need time for yourself as long as you carve out quality time with them and explain why things must be this way.
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Make Self- Care a Priority:
Making self-care a priority is the most challenging in cultivating self-love because it means inconveniencing others. Inconvenience is a part of life for everyone and should be viewed as normal when dealing with others. Anyone who feels inconvenienced by your self-care is someone worth reevaluating. If it’s you standing in your own way, ask yourself why you won’t make self-care a priority.
What is self-care?
Self-care is the process by which you prioritize the care, love and nurturing of yourself over others so your “cup” is full. You can’t fill anyone’s cup until yours is filled with something to give; especially when it’s time and energy that you’re giving.
What are some examples of self-care?
Some examples of self care are as simple as taking a long-hot bath or taking yourself out to eat or ordering your favorite foods and binge watching a series. Other things can mean going to get a physical you’ve been putting off—changing your diet or losing weight. If you aren’t interested in any of those things then take a day in a week just for you to be quiet, sleep in, and read a book. Get the picture? Not complicated.
Now that you understand how self-care and self-love go hand in hand and you have actionable steps to work on, we can jump to the top 5 benefits of self-love for your health and well-being.
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How does Self Love Affect my Health and Well-being?
1) Happiness!
The top benefit to self love is you become a happier person. Why? Because you aren’t operating in lower frequency emotions. That’s guilt and shame which typically come from a good diet of self-love at the beginning. Once you’ve conquered that initial stage, you’ll be rid of the stress that comes from giving too much attention and importance to someone else and their opinion of you.
2) Restored Balance
You’ll have balance in your life and your productivity will skyrocket. Why? Less time juggling and more time focusing on your daily life and tasks, one-by-one without thinking of what others may need from you. You can now schedule the needs of others around what you need to accomplish or take care of whose life depends on you; like kids or an elder. Everyone else can wait.
3) Better Primary Relationship
Your marriage or romantic relationships will benefit from you being happy and balanced. They get what they deserve out of you and enjoy it without looking for more, because you’re no longer overwhelmed. There’s nothing like voluntarily-given undivided attention. When you’re over taxed, you’ll give, but with resentment. The healthy relationships worth keeping will see the difference, and wonder what wonderful thing you’ve done.
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4) Better Friendships
Your circle of friends, acquaintances and contacts will change— for the better. One of the most challenging things about engaging in self-care and self-love is that there’s a change that those around you will notice. Sometimes, they love it and respect it. Oftentimes, they don’t.
The challenge in this is to stand strong without the fear of loss and love yourself totally. People who aren’t accustomed to seeing you in this state, or that don’t approve of it may try and sabotage your progress.
Be aware that these may be the closest people to you. In this case, depending on the relationship, you may need to reevaluate it. If you feel you can’t let it go, then talk to them in a non-confrontive way first. Let them know that taking care of yourself is beneficial to you and the whole family, if that applies. No one in life is indispensable when it comes down to your well-being. Let it be known that when you develop self- love, what and who you lose, now has space to be replaced with those who truly love you.
5) Attract Better Things in Life
You now have room to learn new things and thrive at a higher level of frequency than ever before. All of your abundance and prosperity is affected in a beneficial way. Self-love becomes a habit after a while. How long it takes differs for everyone. You’ll stand the best chances of achieving your goals faster than you previously thought possible. In other words, your life will change in a drastically positive way!
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Conclusion
I hope these benefits of self-love helped you and would love to hear any comments or questions you have respectfully. The community is here to help you evolve and develop the health and well-being you need to thrive and not just survive.
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Alura P Kentleton has 35 years of experience as a spiritual teacher, art meditation journey facilitator and coach and an internet marketing Copywriter.
