Ways to practice self-love and why you’re so deserving of it.
It seems like everywhere we turn, we are constantly slapped in the face with “COVID this” and “Coronavirus that”. So much so that it seems to be that our lives are morphing into a broken record– one continuous loop of the same noise and same distress. That’s why I thought it would be nice to switch things up a little bit in this blog and introduce something new to our feed and hopefully to your mindset. We have already spoken about the virus and the toll that it can take on our minds and bodies, both negatively and positively. However, this week I want to take it a few steps further and touch upon some daily techniques that you can do for yourself even when there isn’t a pandemic lingering around to remind you. It’s called self-love and unlike panic induced action, self-love can be done at any time, in any situation, and with different magnitudes.
Self-love can come in many different shapes and forms. To some, self-love involves acts of pampering such as; hot baths, reading a good book, going for a walk, or treating yourself to a good meal where as to others, self-love takes the shape of more of mental pampering. When you look in the mirror, you point out the things that you love about yourself versus the things you wish you could change. It also involves putting yourself before others at times and learning when to say no. This mental shift acts like your own personal cheering squad where you root for yourself for once. Learning how to care and speak to yourself is not a lesson learned overnight– it takes months and months of continuous, purposeful practice and then some. The good news however, it’s all very doable and here are a few ways to help encourage a more loving relationship between you and your mind.
1. Nourish Your Body
If you’re totally new to the practice of self-love then start with focusing on nourishing yourself. Fueling your body is the most basic form of loving yourself, so this week become mindful of what you put in your body – give it what it loves. Start your day with a green smoothie, treat yourself to a raw chocolate snack and make time to cook yourself a nutritious dinner full of superfoods and super yum. The way we feed ourselves reflects how we love ourselves. So get good at nourishing yourself and you’ll lay strong foundations to self-love. Of course, what you feed yourself extends to more than just your food intake. You also need to be aware of what you’re feeding your mind. Turn off the depressing, panic ridden Coronavirus word vomit the news channels are pushing out every morning and tune into a new podcast or Spotify station. Put your phone down and work towards creating more face time with your friends in family. Before bed each night, keep all of your screens at bay and pick up a new page turned. You will be surprised at how much more at peace you will feel when you start practicing these new ways to starting and ending your day.
2. Date Yourself First
If you’ve never taken yourself out on a date before then make this the month that you do it. Solo-dating is all about spending quality time with yourself and doing something special, just for you. It is one of the most powerful (and fun) things you can do when it comes to practicing self-love. By doing something special for yourself – something you’d only normally do with someone else – you’re giving yourself the love and attention you’d normally only give out to others. You’re finally turning your love inwards. Whether it’s as simple as treating yourself to movie theater popcorn and a movie or something more dedicated like taking yourself out of town for a spa weekend. Whatever people do, you will come away buzzing from it.
3. Make Your Body Happy
It is essential when learning to love ourselves that we focus plenty of time and attention on our bodies. How we feel in our bodies directly affects how we feel in ourselves. Often feelings of loneliness and lack of love actually stem from our own disconnect with our bodies. You want to keep that gorgeous body of yours feeling energized and full of vitality. So it’s important that as part of your self-love routine you do things that make you feel great in your body; whether that’s yoga, running, 80’s Aerobics or dancing like Beyonce at Frame Rave (a particular favorite of ours)! Get your body moving and make sure you take a couple of minutes throughout to recognize all of the amazing things your body can accomplish. Every single breath that we take is a living miracle and so we need to start appreciating our bodies more for allowing that to happen over and over.
4. Express Yourself
It’s so important to find ways to really express yourself and feel free to be totally you. Whether it’s dancing, writing, singing, painting, acting, sculpting, cooking, designing, sketching, knitting, pottery, or poetry – everyone has something that does it for them. It’s often something we did naturally as children. It’s always something that makes us feel fully alive and almost innocent.
So what is it for you? When do you feel you can really let go and be who you truly are? If it’s not something you do at the moment, then think back to earlier years. What makes you come alive and really connect with the deepest parts of yourself? Now go and make time for it in your life. Whether it’s unleashing your inner Rihanna on the dance floor, singing like no-one’s listening or painting in big bold brush strokes, just for the fun of it, it’s essential that you make time to do the things that allow you to really express yourself from the heart.
5. Accept Forgiveness
We humans can be so unbelievably hard on ourselves. As we grow, we start taking responsibility for our actions and oftentimes the actions of others. The downside to this is that we start to punish ourselves too much for our mistakes in learning and developing. You HAVE to start accepting yourself in all of your humanness (the fact that you are not perfect, because none of us are), before you can truly love yourself. Instead of harping over a little slip up here and there, embrace them and appreciate the fact that a mistake made is a lesson learned. Without mistakes, we as humans would be complacent– we would never venture out on our own or try something new. You need to encourage yourself to not only move forward but to do so with purpose and tenacity. Forgive yourself and forgive others because they too are only human.
6. Live Wide Open
You will accept and love yourself more, regardless of where you are in your life’s journey, if you live with purpose and design. Your purpose does not need to be crystal clear to you because that’s all part of the journey. If your intention is to live a meaningful, cultured life, then you will subconsciously start making decisions to support that intention. Instead of sitting on the couch for hours on end, binging ‘Friends’ (absolutely nothing wrong with this), you may start accepting invitations to meet some colleagues out for a happy hour and further develop those friendships. If you’re tired of seeing the stunning beach bungalows on HGTV’s House Hunters International, you may decide to book a trip and go check them out yourself. You will fall head over heels in love with yourself once you see yourself starting to accomplish all that you’ve set out to do. Simply put, establish your intentions and feed your soul.
All in all, Creative Images Institute of Cosmetology may be a cosmetology school to some and a salon/ spa to others but at the end of the day, we like to think that we are much more than that. We are a place where artists come to take their first steps to starting a new career and building a new life. A place where people come to relax and pamper themselves on both a physical and mental level. Some incredibly amazing people have walked through our doors, both as students and as clients but they always leave feeling much more than that. I cannot stress this enough– FEED. YOUR. SOUL. No excuse. People will judge you regardless so just make sure that you keep yourself happy and that you are your number one priority from today until the end. If you do feel like something may be missing and you’re ready to make that change, head on over to our homepage and learn how a simple decision to go back to school has changed some of our artists’ lives for the best.
As a friendly reminder, repeat this daily mantra every morning before you start your day. It’s just a sweet and simple little reality check as to why you are so deserving of everything good and grand in this world.
I am enough.
In all of my forms–daughter, sister, friend, writer, traveler, lover.
I am good enough. I am talented enough. I am confident. I am kind.
I seek knowledge. I show compassion.
I fail. I get back up. I am perfectly imperfect.
I know who I am and what I stand for. I know what I need to change.
I don’t know it all. I can never know it all. I admit when I don’t know.
I know how to forgive. I forgive myself.
I am enough.
