(GivenUs.com) – When we think of Valentine’s Day, we likely think about showing love to other people. In fact, a primary focus of the holiday is on expressing love and giving gifts. While it’s important to show love and appreciation for others, it’s also important to focus on loving ourselves regardless of our relationship status.
Check out this quick interview on the importance of loving ourselves on Valentine’s Day:
Knowing we should love ourselves and knowing how to love ourselves can be two different things. This may not be the easiest transition when we’re used to showering others with love and sacrificing time for ourselves. Let’s talk about a few ways we can show love to ourselves on Valentine’s Day.
Speak Kindly to Ourselves
Being self-critical can become so common that we don’t even realize we’re doing it. Too often, we do this when getting dressed in the morning or when we face challenges during the day. Part of showing love to ourselves involves stopping and changing any negative self-talk that may come up during the day. If we wouldn’t say it to a friend, we shouldn’t say it to ourselves. A simple step is to be a good friend to ourselves on Valentine’s Day.
Buy Ourselves a Present
Whether we’re single or in a relationship, we can still treat ourselves to flowers, chocolate or whatever small splurge is meaningful to us. receiving gifts from others can be a pleasure, but it’s also important to show this love to ourselves. We don’t have to break the bank to show a little special attention in the form of a small gift.
Practice Gratitude
This may not seem like a self-loving practice, but it certainly can be. When we focus on gratitude, it shifts our mindset to looking at what we have — not what we don’t. It infuses our lives with a sense of thankfulness, and it can help put challenges into perspective or at least give us something to hold on to when we’re experiencing difficult times.
Say Yes and No With Intention
An important part of loving ourselves is understanding what we need and then providing that for ourselves. Learning to say “yes” and “no” with intention can be incredibly self-loving. We can learn to turn down invitations and obligations that don’t fill us with joy or a sense of purpose, and we can begin to make room in our lives for the commitments that do.
Make Healthy Choices
While self-love can certainly be about indulgence, it’s also about taking good care of ourselves. Making healthy choices can encompass what we eat and drink, the people we spend time with, how often we exercise or get outdoors and even how we choose to address conflict in our lives. There’s little more self-loving than moving through the day making one healthy choice after another.
Valentine’s Day isn’t just for other people. This is a wonderful time to shower ourselves with love whether we’re single or in a relationship. While self-love is best practiced daily, this holiday can be a wonderful opportunity to recommit to loving ourselves well for the rest of our lives. Now that’s a love story for the ages!
~Here’s to Your Success!
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