Self-Love and self-care seem to be buzz words right now and for good reason. On a healing journey, self-love and self-care are important pieces to the puzzle in order for full healing to take place. Like exercise and stress management, self-love is another area that I need to work on.
Since I myself am not an expert on this topic, I asked my friend Melanie from Liveselflovelaugh to write a post on this topic along with some simple ways you and I can start incorporating self-love and self-care into our daily lives right now!
Love Yourself into Feeling Your Best!
We know it’s important to take care of ourselves but do we really know what truly taking care of ourselves even means? You can practice self-care and still be absolutely miserable and quite frankly feel like shit. Full healing, health and well being simply can’t take place until self love is introduced into the equation.
Self love is an unconditional respect, compassion and complete acceptance of one’s authentic self. It recognizes the many aspects of an individual and the need to address all areas with care and acceptance in order to be the best possible version of oneself. We need to nurture ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually if we truly want to reach our truest and highest potential.
Our bodies speak to us, telling us exactly what we need. At first it whispers and when we refuse to listen it screams in the form of illness, exhaustion, anger, depression, overwhelm, and can eventually turn into uncontrollable emotions and actions. I remember waking up in a shaky sweat in a body that didn’t even feel like my own, my mind racing with negative thoughts, my emotions were extreme and I made irrational decisions as I sat drowning in overwhelm and stress. I was technically taking care of me by any standard I had learned and yet I was falling apart. It took hitting the bottom to realize I was forgetting the most important piece of the puzzle. I wasn’t truly loving myself.
Children intuitively know exactly what they need and they aren’t afraid to express themselves and say it just as it is. As kids, we knew when we were hungry and full and we listened. We knew when we were overwhelmed and we ran for help or asked for a hug. We expressed our emotions freely. We stayed present and enjoyed every moment that came our way with curiosity and enthusiasm. We were connected to our surroundings. We truly knew how to be authentic and listen to ourselves. We all entered this world knowing how to love ourselves unconditionally and somewhere along the line the expectations of the world crept in and we slowly forgot how important and amazing we were.
Self love is about tuning back into the simplicity you experienced as a child. Slowing down to enjoy the present moment, seeing the joy that surrounds you, expressing yourself freely and being unapologetic when it comes to simply being who you are.  When I shifted my negative self talk, found compassion for myself, acknowledged my emotions as important, and recognized I was more than just a physical being that’s when I truly began to heal and embrace my authenticity and shift my perspective.
We all carry an inner whisper, a gut feeling, intuition, or whatever you choose to call it. When we tune into what our body, mind, and emotions are constantly telling us and we actually listen, it is then we truly begin taking care of our true needs.
It can be hard to love yourself in a world where we’ve been taught that putting ourselves first is selfish. Reality is though it’s true you can’t pour from an empty cup. Contrary to everything we are taught to believe, if you concentrate on you first, ensuring your needs are met in all areas you will actually have more resources to love those around you more completely. When you love yourself, you simply have more love to give.
Below are some simple ways you can start to honor and love yourself completely:
-eating and preparing healthy meals (an easy task with all the delicious recipes and support available on Itsallaboutaip)
-exercising
-getting enough sleep
-meditation (if you are looking for a way to tune into what your body is telling you start here)
-taking time just for you
-acknowledging your emotions in stressful situations and listening to what your body tells you
-making time to do the things you love
-practicing gratitude
-combating negative self talk with positive affirmations
-getting outside to connect with nature regularly
-unplugging from technology or even doing something as simple as saying no.
You simply can’t feel your best until you love everything that you are. Your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are all equally important. When you care for yourself in all areas with love and compassion that’s when you’ll find true healing and discover everything you’ve been searching for.
My name is Melanie Buha-DeMerchant. I am a mother of 2 beautiful girls that have inspired me and given me reason to find my way back to myself. My self love journey has changed my life, and encouraged me to take care of myself in big life changing ways, which have recently included me leaving my title of elementary teacher behind. I have found my power back, become in tune with my inner whisper, and my authentic self and am becoming the best version of myself possible physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Once you’ve experienced the fulfilment that self love brings to your life it’s hard not to want to share it with the world. I can be found daily, inspiring others, sharing tools I’ve learned, and just being me in my facebook group Live Self Love Laugh.
Follow me on:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LiveSelfLoveLaugh/
https://liveselflovelaugh.com/
https://www.instagram.com/liveselflovelaugh/
