You may have heard of the five love languages which include physical touch, words of affirmation, receiving gifts, quality time, and acts of service. If you don’t know your personal love language, you can take the quiz and find out. A lot of people associate the five love languages with relationships, whether they’re romantic or platonic, and knowing your love languages and your partner’s love languages will help you form mutual understanding of how you prefer to give and receive love, which can only strengthen a relationship. However, there is more to love than romantic and platonic love involving other people, a lot of people fail to consider that you can also apply the love languages to yourself. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. Self-love is very important and practicing the five different love languages on yourself is a great way to learn how to fully love and accept yourself.
Words of Affirmation
Words of affirmation are a great way to increase the emotional connection you have with yourself. This is an especially useful love language to use if you struggle with negative self-talk. Whenever you catch yourself thinking or saying something negative about yourself, take a step back and ask yourself how you would react to a loved one talking that way about themselves. Some ways that you can build up and foster positive self-talk through words of affirmation can include journaling, daily affirmations (you can write them on sticky notes and place them where you’ll see them every day, or write them in your phone and go over them daily), and positive self-talk. This love language is all about speaking life and positivity into yourself and it can feel hard or corny at first, but it is really important to be able to think positively of yourself.
Receiving Gifts
Receiving gifts is not only about giving yourself another reason to buy material goods, although retail therapy does have its benefits! This love language also reinforces the importance of accepting self-love. You don’t have to purchase expensive material goods to practice self-love, you can also show yourself love through the ordinary mundane things, when you’re grocery shopping you can splurge a little and buy the brand name version of your favorite food instead of the generic, buy yourself a cup of coffee after a long day of class, and purchase things that will make you happy and give you good vibes. One of my personal favorite ways to practice the love language of receiving gifts is to buy myself flowers, the act of buying them alone is a huge mood boost and I love using them to decorate my space and looking over at them on my desk throughout the week while I do my work gives me a small burst of happiness.
Physical Touch
If physical touch is one of your top love languages, you should try to focus on feeling self-love, whether it is literally or metaphorically. There are many ways you can incorporate physical touch into your self-care routine and some of those ways include: wrapping yourself snugly into a blanket, giving yourself a spa treatment, moisturizing your skin with lotion or body oils, and stretching your muscles or giving yourself a massage.
Quality Time
The love language of quality time is all about living in the present and being in the moment. This love language goes hand in hand with the concept of mindfulness, which is a mental exercise that focuses on achieving a state in which you are focusing on your state in the present moment, and allowing yourself to acknowledge and accept the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that are coursing through you at that very moment. There are many ways to incorporate the practices of mindfulness into your life, whether it be through exercise, meditation, or journaling. The love language of quality time is also about figuring out how you enjoy spending time with yourself, so figure out what your hobbies are and set aside time to pursue those hobbies, whether it’s on a daily or weekly basis.
Acts of Service
This love language is all about asking yourself what you need and then self-fulfilling those needs. Evaluate your physical and mental concerns and address them as best as you can. Some ways you can incorporate this love language into your life can include cooking yourself healthy homemade meals, cleaning your space, and making regular appointments with your doctor, dentist, and other health professionals to ensure that you are thriving mentally and physically and addressing all your needs.