Importance of Self-Love
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.”
-Invictus, WE Henley
Literature and media have molded our brains to search for love outside continually. We are obsessed with the idea of ‘true love’ and ‘the one’. And in this temperate frenzy to find a life partner, we often forget that love starts from within. Unless you love yourself, you cannot love anyone else.
‘Love’ is perhaps the most overused word in the English Language. With its many variations, connotations, and implications, several failed attempts have been made to define it. Poets across centuries have tried to encapsulate its beauty and power in words. As a result, every love poem is different and unique. But there is one common ground to it all: unconditional acceptance. This goes for self-love as well.
Self-love has the ability to give life meaning. It is a rebellion against the romanticism of the ideal and perfect version of yourself. A constant pursuit of perfection is a toxic trait that brings us down and causes us to beat ourselves up. If you get entangled in a mindset that only glorifies idealistic careers, relationships, and body types, you end up hurting yourself.
Here six ways how self-love shapes your life and drives you towards a bright, prosperous future.
1. A Better Life for Yourself
We want the best things for the people we love. That applies to our own selves too. Once you start seeing your self-worth, you stop settling for less than you deserve. You try to give yourself things you know you should have and strive to provide your life quality. Make it a practice to owe yourself “one hour”, 1/24 of your day, it can be simple from reading, writing, exercising, dancing, learning a new hobby it’s all yours.
2. Growth
Self-love brings acceptance. Acceptance brings perspective, and perspective brings awareness. And being aware of your flaws without beating yourself up for them is a prerequisite to growth. You start making progress after you acknowledge your faults, understand that it is okay to have them, and then work towards conquering them.
3. Improved Mental Health
Studies have shown that self-love reduces the chances of depression and anxiety. Self-love helps us develop healthy habits like self-care and adopt better self-management techniques. Efficiently managing your time and resources can help you control stress. Self-care practices like yoga and exercise help you ward off the risk of depression.
4. Healthier Relationships
Relationships are double-handed machines that dysfunction when one hand contributes more than the other. When self-love is absent, we tend to compensate for it through our romantic and platonic relationships. We end up offering much more than we receive, which leaves us feeling unwanted and sometimes exploited.
But once we start loving ourselves, we learn how to set boundaries in relationships. We learn how to say ‘no’ to things we are not comfortable with, and ask for things we want. The way you love yourself sets standards for how others should love you.
5. Fewer Efforts, More Satisfaction
Self-love makes us appreciate even the simplest of our efforts. Self-love allows us to set more realistic and achievable goals for ourselves. Meeting these small goals triggers happy hormones in our body, which drives us to set more mini-goals.
This constant cycle of goal-setting and succeeding fills our hearts with greater life-satisfaction. Self-love also teaches us to start relying on our validation instead of others. We stop seeking approval and start doing things at our own pace.
6. Seek collateral beauty more often
Every cloud has a silver lining, and each damage has collateral beauty. Sometimes, life can’t help but give us hardships. Lows are a part of the world as much as highs. With self-love, dealing with the low moments in life becomes more bearable. It is because you focus on personal growth and learning rather than the pain being inflicted on you.
If happiness is home, then self-love is the hand that shapes it. So go and fall head over heels for yourself. Treat yourself with flowers and chocolates. Slay the dragons of self-doubt and conquer the castle of success. Protect yourself, nurture yourself, help yourself glow. Be madly in love with yourself and start now.
