In a recent chat with a long-time friend I was asked the question “how did you get to be so positive and confident?” Before I responded, I smiled, chuckled, and thought about how just over a year and a half ago I felt like I emotionally hit rock bottom. One bad ending to my first real relationship took me into a downward spiral of not knowing who I was as an individual, not knowing what to do on my own, and being unsure of how to deal with this new idea of being “single.” The saving grace within all the chaos was the realization that I just had to learn how to love myself. [because you have to love yourself before you can love someone else — but that’s a whole other blog post!].

To be completely honest self-love has been an on-going process that has taken me years and years to truly work toward the direction I want to go. I have my ups and downs just like everyone else. Do you have those days where you question “why am I here?” “why has life lead me here?” “what am I supposed to be doing with my life?” “why am I like this?” or maybe even “why am I single?” All of these different questions flood my head, especially just before bed when I am alone in the dark under my warm blankets and surrounded by only my thoughts. It takes time & effort to learn how to love, especially how to love yourself.

Self-love is a practice.

I have said this multiple times throughout many posts: the act of self-love is an active practice that varies between people, and can be worked on at any point in time throughout the course of your life.

Liv’s 3 Things That I  Believe You Need in Order to Love Yourself:

1. An understanding of who you are as an individual and what you represent
2. An understanding that your life is a journey and to embrace the highs and lows
3. Be authentically yourself, no matter what other people may think

I try my best to empower my friends and the people who read my blog. I want you to realize that you hold the power and the answers to everything about YOU. You know you best! Sometimes it can feel like we are lost in our own head, but we all have the capacity to unlock our potential and to reach the amazing level of love and acceptance.

Self-love is about loving yourself, and loving all of those qualities about yourself that you have been gifted with. Think about your gifts, and your talents.  You are here on this earth for a purpose (I’ll tap into this topic next month), and you were created in a way that made you unique! We are not supposed to be cookie-cutter versions of someone else. Think about this and get it into your mind, and I promise that you will be one more step toward elevating your self-love.

Try to mix in more positivity.

Positivity is another thing related to self-love. If you are constantly negative you are not going to be able to fully love yourself. Changing your mind-set can make all the difference. Being positive is also an active process. Positive mind, positive vibes, positive life. The key thing there is mind.

Be Confident in Yourself

In order to experience full self-love you have to also be confident in who you are. It is really difficult but I wrote a post entitled “you cannot fail at being you” which is completely true. Everyone comes from somewhere, and everyone’s had experiences that have moulded them into who they are. Understanding that concept has helped me to become a more confident woman. When I took the time to realize that my life is my own journey I started to gain more confidence. You have gotten yourself this far in life while experiencing obstacles along the way, so have full confidence in yourself that you can continue to conquer life.

Now that you’ve read all of that, what is the next step? How are you going to take that advice and work toward boosting your self-love and learning to love yourself? Comment below and let me know your self-love plan!

Self-love is the best love, and it’s another step toward living your life to the fullest everyday. xo

-Liv