Living in a negative world makes it hard to love yourself. You are constantly being bombarded with bad news or information that just doesn’t fit for staying positive. These tips can help you turn it around and start to love yourself.
1 – Consider the 24-hour opportunity costs of hating yourself.
Every day, you are given 24 hours. At least five or six of those hours are spent sleeping. That leaves approximately 18 hours for you to either love yourself or not. If you spend most of the time disliking yourself and putting yourself down, you essentially have wasted that time. In contrast, if you used most of that time to love yourself, you have no time for hating yourself.
2 – When you love yourself, others will be more willing to love you, too.
Love is considered a positive emotion. Therefore, when you project love, it comes back to you. The same is true when you project negativity. It will come right back to you. Since the choice is yours, why not choose positivity and love?
3 – Stay away from people who are negative.
These people drain your positive energy to the point where you become like them over time. Think back to anyone who you view as negative. What benefits do they serve to you from their negative behavior? You won’t come up with any.
4 – Focus most of your energy on the present.
It’s the only time frame you have some control over. The past cannot be changed, and the future hasn’t happened. People dwell on both of these time frames and lose sight of living for the current time frame.
5 – You are the only person that can love yourself for the majority of the time.
Your parents and family love you. However, they have their own lives to live. While they may support you, and be there for you, they cannot do this every second of the day. You have to be the one who does it when they are not around. If you can do it while they are not there, why not do it when they are there as well?
6 – You may be cutting yourself off from opportunities if you don’t love yourself.
It’s about projecting the right kind of message to others. Your body language and your actions reflect how you feel about yourself. People pick up on this even at a subconscious level. If you give off a negative vibe, others may not consider you for a promotion or other opportunities.
7 – To love yourself, start by liking yourself.
Give yourself the permission to do so. Start by accepting your faults, but committing to change what you can (and what you want). Make changes only if you feel changes within are needed.
8 – Avoid toxic people.
People who are critical of you either don’t understand who you are or are going through issues of their own. You should ignore these people. Be aware that this is different than your boss giving you constructive criticism at work.
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Actionable Steps
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| Keep an active journal and fill it with affirmations about loving yourself. Whenever you feel self-doubt coming on, simply refer to your journal. You can do this on a smart device, but the act of physically writing in a journal is shown to be more effective. | Seek out two positive people to associate with and do this every month. When you have more positive people in your life, you won’t have time for negative people.
| Write out a list of what you like about yourself. Also, write a list of attributes you would like to change and determine how you will make those changes. Keep this list near you as much as possible.
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