I’ve noticed that self-love and self-care are hot topics right now. Honestly, I used to ignore it like many people probably do, but since I started putting myself at the forefront of my life, many things started changing. This is something that should be ingrained in everyone’s mind at a very young age.
Logically, it makes a lot of sense. Who is going to love you more than you? From birth to death, you start and end with yourself. You are the only constant in your life. You have been there through all of your highs and lows. And you spend more time with yourself than anybody else. So why wouldn’t you love yourself first? Why wouldn’t you make yourself a priority?
As simple as it sounds, this was a foreign concept to me until about a year ago and I didn’t start actively practicing it until recently. I didn’t understand it. Growing up in a black household, specifically a Caribbean household, it wasn’t something that was explicitly discussed. When discussing love, beauty and life it seems like self-love should be an integral part of those conversations, right? But we never talk about the importance of loving ourselves and making ourselves a priority. This could be for a variety of different reasons, but I feel like many people are taught from a young age how to take care of others and how to treat others, but the conversation is never redirected back to ourselves.
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I’m not a self-love or self-care expert. But I can clearly see the impact it’s had on my life. When you love yourself first, you are not constantly searching for love because you give it to yourself. You become more content with yourself and you are happier. You stop worrying so much about other people and their opinions of you because you value yourself and your own opinions more. You aren’t as stressed over other people because you are focused on yourself. And you don’t have time to entertain things or individuals who deter you from peace and happiness. You simply stop tolerating things that don’t align with what you want and inadvertently start attracting things that enhance your life.
Work on yourself and watch how your life lights up. Take your wants, needs, feelings and emotions into account first before anybody else’s. Constantly ask yourself, is this what I want? Will this make me happy? Is this important to me? And make sure everything you do and everyone you associate with plays a role in making your life better. You do not have to deal with anyone or anything you don’t want to deal with. If it doesn’t bring you peace or make your life better, then why stress over it?
This is all easier said than done, of course, but it can be done. Be consistent and take it one day a time. Once you start prioritizing yourself you start to realize how great you are and start to realize who are. When you exude light, confidence and good energy, that is exactly what you’ll get back.
Let me know: How has self-love changed your life? What changes have you made? And stay tuned for my next post!