There is, perhaps, nothing more powerful in this world than being able to truly love yourself. 

And why shouldn’t you? You have every reason to love yourself, because you, yourself, are loved infinitely! By your friends, your family, the universe. And I don’t mean the BEST version of you – I don’t mean you when you have all your ducks in a row, and are perfectly blown out, and made up, and pretty. I mean you – right now.

You are LOVED. As you are.

So being able to embrace that, and affirm that we are loved by actively demonstrating self-love is one of the most powerful things that you can do. There are so many people in the world who struggle with feelings of self-worth (at some point in our lives, we all have), so being able to counteract this struggle, and truly show love to ourselves is a skill, and a practice that can truly change your life.

Here are some ways that you can show yourself love today, and change your outlook, your mindset, and your life, as a result.

1. Appreciate your unique qualities

There are many concepts that I shout (from the rooftops!) over and over again here on P&P, and one of them is this: you are unique.

I truly believe that everyone has been blessed with a unique set of talents, strengths, passions, and service aptitudes. And those things all come together and culminate in a beautiful way for each of us – and we express them in a way that NO ONE else can!

Dr. Seuss said it best: 

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

And since this is the case (since it IS) – you must love who you are, and the unique qualities you bring to this world! Because you are the only one who can do so.

To show yourself love today, and appreciate your unique qualities: make a list. Write down 10 things that make you special. They can be big, meaningful things (like your passion for serving others), or smaller things (like your relentlessly curly hair). They can even be things that maybe you don’t love, but they still make you unique. 

Learning to recognize these things that make you unique – that make you special – helps to incite self-love, and self-appreciation for the things you have been blessed with. 

As Jen Sincero says in her book, “You Are A Badass”: “You are the only you that will ever be. You are kind of a big deal.”  

Amen to that! Love yourself for who you ARE. Because there’s no one else quite like you out there. 

2. Affirm your love for yourself

Another great way to show yourself love, and get in the habit of practicing self-love regularly is with the help of affirmations. Affirmations are exactly what they sound like: verbal repetition of a meaningful statement of something that’s important to you. Ideally: something that “affirms” something you like about yourself, something that makes you unique, something that enforces a goal or quality you desire to develop, something that makes you feel like the best, most loved version of yourself. 

Some of my favorite personal affirmations are:

“I am bright, brilliant and beautiful.”

“I am beautiful, powerful, and capable.”

“I am fierce, sparkly, and successful. I attract success into my life, wherever I go!”

But that’s the just thing: your affirmations have to be personalized to YOU. What works for someone else may not resonate with you the same way it does for them. Tap in to what you need to start telling yourself – and get to talking! 

Sometimes your affirmations can be skewed towards things you want to work on. This works exceptionally well for many reasons. First of all, the more we repeat something out loud to ourselves, the more we believe it to be true, and accept it as reality. Our minds are incredibly powerful – if they hear us say things over and over again, this comes to be what we believe. So if you’re able to actively make those things you say over and over again positive, uplifting, and empowering – then this is how you will come to feel. 

In short: Whatever we think, we become. And whatever we speak, we think. 

Affirmations are a great way to reprogram our brains for self-love (and success!)

3. Do something that you love

All too often in life, we get caught in the cycle of “doing.” Here’s what I mean: 

We live in a “do” world – we’re “doing” ALL the time. Whether we’re at work, at home, out in the community, with our family or friends, or anything else, the understanding is always the same. We must be “doing” to be successful. To be normal.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in the cycle of making sure that we are “doing” – because “doing” is better than “wanting.” Than standing idly while other “do” and “work” around us, and leave us feeling like we don’t measure up.

But this is just the thing: in our obsession with “doing” we focus on the task at hand – we focus on the short term – and we forget about our long-term dreams and goals. We forget about the things that once made us happy. The things that made us feel ALIVE!

So the (seemingly) simple solution here is to make some time to do something that you love. Show yourself love by DOING something that makes you happy. And it can be anything! Whether that’s reading a good book, taking a walk outside, or maybe planning a trip that you can look forward to – the important thing is to do it. 

Life is too short to spend your days “doing” but NOT doing the things that make you the happiest, best, most fulfilled version of yourself. Finding joy in your daily life is important. Make the time – even if it’s just 10 minutes a day to start – for the things that make you happy… and you will find an inner sense of joy and self-love. And that’s how we ALL deserve to spend our days!

What are ways that you show yourself love on the daily? Leave your tips in the comments… and let’s fuel this self-love movement together! 

Want a step-by-step action plan for showing yourself love and reconnecting with your inner power? Download my book, “35 Days of Confidence,” today! 

Header photo by Adriana Zuniga-Williams