This Valentine’s Day, treat yourself because you deserve it.
It seems like a lot of us forget one of the most important types of love, self-love.
How can you be comfortable and successful loving someone else if you don’t love and take care of yourself? Said my therapist in one of our sessions.
It’s a valid question, and it made me think really hard about acts of self-love I could do to treat myself and find comfort and peace in my single life because the most important relationship I need to work on is with me.
Here are some of the things I’ve narrowed down to do this Valentine’s Day to take care of myself and put me at the top of my priority list.
- Go out on a walk around town.
- It might seem simple, but it’s a tried and true way to improve your mood and take care of your body. I’m forcing myself to not grab my headphones and simply take the time to let my mind wander and really be present in the moment, with no music, and no distractions.
- Yoga
- There are short mindful 15 to 20-minute yoga routines out there that I’ve found help me center myself and achieve this sense of peace. I put no expectations on what the pose is supposed to look like, or how the person in the video looks while doing it, I’m simply doing my best and enjoying the moment.
- A hot shower or bath.
- In this, I plan to go all out, with candles, incense, body scrubs, and lotions. Every product I have that I don’t use as often as I should to make my skin feel nice, glowy, soft, and healthy. It can do wonders for your self-esteem.
- Making a small, simple meal.
- As a college student, I typically either meal prep on the weekends to save time during the week or buy some fast food in the interest of saving time. But this Valentine’s Day I’m preparing a nice simple meal with some roasted veggies and a good protein. Nothing extravagant, simple to make. This is just one of many other ways in which you could potentially show yourself some love, you’re eating healthy, it tastes good, it’s made by you and if you’re anything like me then you’ve got a playlist with all your favorite songs to belt out as you cook.
- Connect with my spiritual side.
- I’m not the most devoted or connected with my spirituality as I could be, and yet I find when I’m meditating or working with my tarot cards for a bit when I’m done I feel lighter and happier. So, this year the goal is to do a small meditation and self-love tarot spread, just working on simple things that connect me to my practice and make me feel safe and at peace, no matter what’s going on in my life at the time.
I’m not a professional, these are just some actions that I’ve found have helped me before and thought would be good to share.
The KU recreation services have a great detailed list of the 7 pillars of self-care that I took inspiration from for this piece: The Seven Pillars of Self-Care
Source: “The 7 Pillars of Self-Care (And How To Use Them)“ by The Blissful Mind