Do you want to know the magic of self-love? Start with liking yourself first. Liking yourself is simply self-acceptance. It might not be easy, but we have to start with accepting ourselves despite our flaws. Accepting ourselves means letting go of self-judgement. We start to focus on the parts of ourselves that we love the most and stop seeking validation from others. In order to learn how to love yourself, you have to start being kinder to yourself. Learning to love yourself can be a skill; it's something you practice and essentially get better with time.
How did I start my journey towards self-love you might ask?
- Journaling. Whenever I felt like my self-esteem was low and I didn’t feel worthy, I wrote it all down. There is something therapeutic about putting thoughts onto paper.
- Positive affirmations. I slowly started implementing positive affirmations. I remember constantly repeating to myself: “I am beautiful” “I am worthy” “you got this”. This definitely helped me eliminate a lot of the negative thought patterns I was having; I still continue to repeat positive affirmations to this day.
It’s important to note that our self-love journey can have its ups and downs. I’ve fallen out of love with myself a couple times due to stress, personal problems, and simply lack of motivation (aka weird funks). Self-care has been a very important part of helping myself bounce back when I’m struggling with my self-love journey. To me, self-care is watching the sunset, quality time with friends, rewatching New Girl on Netflix, working out, listening to Ctrl and Blonde from start to finish and reading books that are motivational and themed around self-love. There are good days and there are bad days, but always remind yourself that YOU ARE WORTHY - even on your bad days.
It’s been a long time coming, but from my experience I can say that our self-love journey doesn't have a finish line; I believe it’s a never-ending journey. Choosing to love myself first has helped me embrace who I am. It’s gotten to the point where people are reaching out to me for advice regarding their own journey with self-love. It amazes me every day the amount of love and support I’ve received from the people who come across my TikTok. I’m very grateful for the opportunities that have made its way to me and I must say that I am proud of myself. Self-love is prioritizing myself and my own happiness, and I am glad I can inspire people along the way. ☺
Author: Stephanie Fonseca Tiktok: @urfavscorpio
Editor: Mylinh Huynh
Publisher: Self First Club @selffirstclub