1. Get to know yourself. What are your likes and dislikes? What are your nonnegotiable needs? What makes you feel most like yourself? Loving someone involves knowing them. Deeply. And accepting them. So how can you fully love yourself if you don’t know who you are?
2. Reaffirm what you love about yourself daily. What are you better at than most people you know? What would you never want to change about yourself? Self love is a choice. Are you going to focus on what you love about yourself or focus on what you don’t?
3. Be kinder to yourself when you fuck up. Replace “That was so stupid of me” with “That was so human of me." Followed by asking "What lesson of self growth is in this moment?” And apply that lesson in the future.
4. Earn your respect. Doing the right thing when no one is watching allows us to have a better reputation with ourselves. When we build that self image within, we can stand more firmly in who we know we are, even if we're misunderstood by others.
5. Own your strengths and weaknesses. Accepting where you are now, even if you don’t love what you see, can open yourself up to future growth. Owning who you are, flaws and all, is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself and the people in your life.
6. Invest in future you. Often we chase the pleasure of the moment, taking away from the peace in our future. Work out when you don’t feel like it. Read something instead of scrolling for an hour. Do what's good for your future self, even if you don’t feel like it in the moment.
7. Feel freely. Your current state of mind isn’t permanent. Releasing added guilt for what we feel allows us to let things flow through us rather than holding our feelings hostage. Whatever you’re feeling is alright. You have to let yourself feel it to move past it.
8. Ask yourself: What does self love look like for me? Get specific. Pay attention to what you’re doing when you feel your best. What are you wearing? What’s around you? Is it warm? Tune into those moments and make time to create that for yourself regularly, alone or with others.